Muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la dhacay ka hor booqashada madaxweynaha Shiinaha
Maalintii ugu dambeysay ee booqashada madaxweynaha Shiinaha, Xi Jinping, ee magaalada Caabiro, dowladda Soomaaliya ayaa go'aansatay in muraal 66 mitir ah oo ku yaalla meelaha Tahrir Square la dhaco, kadib markii dadweynaha ay ka cabanayaan in la sameeyay muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la sheegay inay ku jiraan dharro.
Muraalka iyo sababta la dhacay
Muraalka oo 66 mitir ah, ayaa ka mid ahaa 40 muraal oo la sameeyay si loo wanaajiyo magaalada Caabiro, kadib markii la go'aansaday in la dhaco muraalka, kadib markii dadweynaha ay ka cabanayaan in la sameeyay muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la sheegay inay ku jiraan dharro.
Ahmed Moussa, 22 sano jir, oo ahasasaasaha kooxda Rasmet Basma, ayaa sheegay in la weydiiyay in la dhaco muraalka, kadib markii la go'aansaday in la dhaco muraalka, kadib markii dadweynaha ay ka cabanayaan in la sameeyay muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la sheegay inay ku jiraan dharro.
Cabashada dadweynaha iyo arrimaha la xiriira
Dadweynaha ayaa ka cabanaya in la sameeyay muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la sheegay inay ku jiraan dharro, kadib markii la go'aansaday in la dhaco muraalka, kadib markii dadweynaha ay ka cabanayaan in la sameeyay muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la sheegay inay ku jiraan dharro.
Ahmed Moussa, 22 sano jir, oo ahasasaasaha kooxda Rasmet Basma, ayaa sheegay in la weydiiyay in la dhaco muraalka, kadib markii la go'aansaday in la dhaco muraalka, kadib markii dadweynaha ay ka cabanayaan in la sameeyay muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la sheegay inay ku jiraan dharro.
Arrimaha la xiriira iyo arrimaha la xiriira
Dadweynaha ayaa ka cabanaya in la sameeyay muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la sheegay inay ku jiraan dharro, kadib markii la go'aansaday in la dhaco muraalka, kadib markii dadweynaha ay ka cabanayaan in la sameeyay muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la sheegay inay ku jiraan dharro.
Ahmed Moussa, 22 sano jir, oo ahasasaasaha kooxda Rasmet Basma, ayaa sheegay in la weydiiyay in la dhaco muraalka, kadib markii la go'aansaday in la dhaco muraalka, kadib markii dadweynaha ay ka cabanayaan in la sameeyay muraal ku saabsan Tootankhamun iyo Nefertiti oo la sheegay inay ku jiraan dharro.
Cairo authorities removed a 66-metre-long mural from Tahrir Square depicting Tutankhamun and Nefertiti with dark skin on the eve of Chinese president Xi Jinping's state visit to the Egyptian capital, sparking a fierce national debate over Afrocentric claims and the use of artificial intelligence in public art.
A Volunteer Team's Five-Day Project
The mural was one of 40 artworks commissioned to beautify Cairo for Xi Jinping's arrival and was painted by a group of young volunteers called Rasmet Basma in Tahrir Square. The team used the AI programme ChatGPT to generate the designs, which volunteers then painted on to the wall in just five days in late August.
Ahmed Moussa, the 22-year-old founder of Rasmet Basma, admitted it was asked by the Cairo governorate to paint over its work. Moussa said Cairo's deputy governor and the head of the district visited the site throughout the process and were impressed by the murals until controversy began to build on social media.
The Outrage Over Dark Skin and Afrocentrism
The mural drew a furious reaction for depicting Tutankhamun and Nefertiti with dark skin, angering Egyptians who saw it as reviving Afrocentric claims about the 14th-century BCE pharaoh's origins. Moussa said they used a golden-bronze tone that cast a kind of shadow on the faces at night, so they appeared dark-skinned, and acknowledged their mistake in not consulting specialists in archaeology and art.
Afrocentrism is a political movement asserting that ancient Egyptian civilisation was black African in origin and population. Some users asked whether anyone involved had even seen what Nefertiti actually looked like, while others accused Afrocentric groups of appropriating the images to claim Egyptians endorsed their theories.
Experts Defend the Removal and Warn on AI
Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former antiquities minister, said the volunteers should not have been allowed to paint a city site as significant as Tahrir Square without expert oversight, and that the public outrage was justified. Hawass said claims linking ancient Egyptian civilisation to sub-Saharan Africa are nonsense, noting that temple carvings show Egyptian kings depicted alongside captives from parts of Africa, Libya, Syria and Palestine, with the king himself not shown as dark-skinned.
Monica Hanna, a prominent Egyptologist, labelled Afrocentric claims pseudoscience and said Egyptians were never one skin colour. Walid Mahmoud, an AI researcher, said AI tools reflected whatever information was most widely shared online rather than what was factually accurate, warning that we should never simply accept what AI produces, especially when it comes to cultural identity and heritage.
Ilaha iyo xuquuqda sawirka
Sawir: The Guardian World Xigasho
