This Art Forum is Beautifying Burullus City's Walls and Boats in Kafr El Sheikh

Honouring the long-cherished Kafr El-Sheikh tradition of boat-painting, the upcoming 7th International Burullus Symposium For Painting on Walls and Boats will run between October 1st and October 14th, with over 65 Egyptian artists in participation. They'll be joined by artists from more 20 counties across the world, who will beautify the streets of the Burullus City through wall-painting and artistically decorating boats, which are an important symbol of Kafr El-Sheikh (which makes sense, considering the governorate is responsible for 40% of the country’s seafood production).

The forum – which is sponsored by the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, the UN Population Fund, the Battana Foundation for Publishing and Distribution, and Azad Art Gallery – was first launched in 2013 with the aim of cultivating the power of art to ignite creative expression, doubling up as means of connection between the artists themselves and the rest of the city.

Every year, the decorated boats are displayed in an exhibition in Cairo - where they are available for sale -  although it has not yet been announced if they will continue that tradition this year. In the past, the proceeds of that exhibition had gone on to the development of the city of Burullus.