Shinoda's Wall

It was a dark summer night and I was hyper agitated, it was like a cyclone in my head, as a scholar, I endured a very busy and hectic year filled with uncertainty and anxiety. I took my e-pen and I started making marks, lines and shapes on the paper. I was filling the paper as completely as I can. I stepped back for a moment to notice my inner energy as it appears on the paper. It was flowing and playful. I was drawing sketches of some cute little monsters.

I was inspired by Mike Shinoda, who is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter, keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, and one of the two vocalists (yes, all that) of Linkin Park. Outside of Linkin Park, Mike also formed Fort Minor as a side project, is an active artist and painter, and has produced a number of albums. I was watching one of his interviews where he said:

« Whether it is music or drawing, painting and anything like that, art for me is like breathing, in the sense that I don’t think about it, I just do it […] When I’m making something, sometimes I have a very specific message with some of the pieces, and just like most artists, coping with your own story and reactions and emotions. In its best form, it’s like therapy. »

The power of art to soothe the human spirit has not gone unnoticed through the centuries. Goethe, the German great philosopher, poet and dramatist (1749-1832) wrote: « Go, Paint, It is good for your soul! »

It was my first attempt at graffiti or street art.

Shinoda’s Wall by Hemza Zeghar (July 2019).

What draws me to the arts is not the hope that the experience will make me smarter or more self-disciplined. Instead, it is the expectation that creating a work of art can be a rewarding experience, one that offers me pleasure and emotional stimulation and meaning.

Hemza Zeghar