In Egypt, a mural created in Tahrir Square ahead of the Chinese president’s visit was painted over amid accusations that it reproduced Afrocentric claims about the origins of the pharaohs, UNN reports, citing The Guardian.
Details
Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Cairo last month, the city authorities were busy removing a 66-meter mural from the view of the high-profile guest.
The painting depicting Pharaoh Tutankhamun and Queen Nefertiti was among 40 murals commissioned to decorate the city before Xi Jinping’s arrival, and was painted by the Rasmet Basma volunteer youth group in Tahrir Square.
But it provoked a furious reaction because it depicted the two historical figures with dark skin — angering Egyptians who saw it as a revival of Afrocentric claims about the origins of the pharaohs. The illustration disappeared beneath a fresh coat of paint several hours before Xi landed.
Ahmed Moussa, the 22-year-old founder of Rasmet Basma, has now admitted that the Cairo governorate asked him to paint over the work, which had been prepared in just five days at the end of August.
The team used the AI program ChatGPT to create designs that volunteers then painted on the wall.
Moussa said that the deputy governor of Cairo and the district chief visited the site throughout the process, and that they were impressed by the murals — until a controversy began on social media.
"We used a golden-bronze shade that cast a shadow over the faces at night, so they looked dark-skinned," Moussa said.
"We acknowledge our mistake in not consulting archaeology and art specialists."
The publication notes that Afrocentrism is a political movement that claims that ancient Egyptian civilization was Black in origin and population.
One user asked whether any of the participants had "seen what Nefertiti actually looked like," while others accused Afrocentric groups of appropriating images to claim that Egyptians support their theories.
Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former minister of antiquities, said volunteers should not have been allowed to paint such an important place as Tahrir Square without expert supervision, and that the public outrage was justified.
"Claims of a connection between ancient Egyptian civilization and sub-Saharan Africa are nonsense," Hawass said.
"Temple carvings from the late period show Egyptian kings depicted alongside captives from parts of Africa, Libya, Syria and Palestine, while the king himself is not shown as dark-skinned," he said.
In addition
The media outlet emphasizes that this is only the latest episode in a long-running debate over the complexion of ancient Egyptians. In 2023, a Netflix documentary sparked a discussion after a Black actress was cast as Cleopatra, and a similar controversy erupted in June 2024 after a guide reportedly presented an Afrocentric view of Egyptian history at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Monica Hanna, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo, called Afrocentric claims "pseudoscience." She said Egyptian society had always been ethnically diverse, from Nubian communities in the south to Mediterranean populations in the north.
"Egyptians have never been all one skin color," she said. "We are neither snow-white nor cream-colored."
Walid Mahmoud, an artificial intelligence researcher and expert in African anthropology, said that artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT reflect whatever information has been shared most frequently online, rather than what is factually accurate.
He said they were created by companies in the United States and Europe, and that the content they generate could influence how that audience sees itself.
"That is why we should never simply accept what it creates, especially when it comes to cultural identity and heritage," Mahmoud said.
Mostafa Eissa, an art critic, said that artificial intelligence should remain a tool rather than an independent decision-maker.
"I prefer using technology without giving up the human element within the artist," he said, warning that allowing such tools to replace an artist’s own craftsmanship risks depriving the work of its originality.