Where art and oil meet
Born from a desire to reconnect with his roots, eL Seed’s Tacapae brand brings together artists and designers.
By Nicola Chilton
Near the Tunisian city of Gabès, squeezed between the mountains, the sea, and a coastal oasis, lies the village of Temoula. Small and unpretentious, it has recently been drawing some of the world’s most renowned street artists. An unlikely magnet for global creatives, Temoula is the ancestral home of French-Tunisian artist eL Seed, known for his striking public art which combines Arabic calligraphy with bold colour and messages of harmony and hope.
Recent visitors include Portuguese artist Vhils, who drills and blasts concrete surfaces to produce his “creative destruction” works in urban environments around the world. And American artist Futura—a pioneer of the 1970s New York graffiti scene, who fused spray-paint art with abstract expressionism and crossed over from street art to galleries.
Brazilian street artists, and twins, Osgemeos, whose art is influenced by Brazilian folklore and hip-hop culture, came last October. Moroccan visual artist Hassan Hajjaj, known for his bold portraits of pop-culture subjects and Marrakech street vendors, was here the year before.
They have all come here as part of eL Seed’s Tacapae olive-oil project. The name derives from takabbast, the Amazigh word for fortified place, and the ancient name of Gabès. For the past few years, eL Seed has been working with his family to produce oil pressed from olives grown in his family groves. The oil is sold in handmade stoneware bottles that are themselves artworks, featuring limited-edition designs by artists who have joined the harvest. Production is still modest, but for eL Seed, quantity is not the point. His aim is to connect people with the land, crafts, and landscapes of his ancestral home, and to create a community where Tunisian and international creatives can come together with his family and farmworkers for the annual harvest. It is a celebration of life and love, with food, music, dancing, art, and a welcome that’s as warm as the sun that ripens the olives.
Bottles containing the first harvest featured designs by eL Seed himself. Abstract calligraphy is based on a phrase inspired by American novelist John Dos Passos, who wrote of exile and belonging: You can snatch a man from his country, but not the country from a man’s heart.
During the 2025 harvest (hero image), street artists Futura and Osgemeos painted a mural in Temoula. Top, Temoula is the ancestral home of French-Tunisian artist eL Seed, known for his striking public art which combines Arabic calligraphy with bold colour and messages of harmony and hope. Above, GABÈS 1447 was a solo exhibition by Hassan Hajjaj held amid the olive trees. The portraits were created during the 2024 harvest. Photos: Courtesy of Tacapae.
For the next harvest, Hassan Hajjaj des-igned three limited-edition bottles inspired by motifs seen around Gabès, such as motor-oil cans, street signs, colourful kiosks, and road markers. One vivid orange bottle features a mosaic motif inspired by zellij and pop art, an ode to the markers that measure the distance to Temoula. Hajjaj also photographed the 2024 harvest. The large-format portraits were displayed on the farm the following April as part of the GABÈS 1447 open-air exhibition.
Hajjaj’s collaboration with Tacapae is born out of a shared culture and long friendship. “eL Seed and I have so much in common,” Hajjaj says. “He’s Tunisian and grew up in France, I’m Moroccan and grew up in England. Olive oil has a lot of meaning in our region, and it’s also mentioned in the Qur’an. To have this journey, to meet his family, to do the shoot with the farmworkers, and do something artistic and meaningful brought together by olive oil, was a beautiful thing.”
Still to come are collectible, limited-edition bottles by Futura (expected in April), and Vhils (in September).
“For me, being involved in this project goes far beyond collaborating on an object or a visual,” Vhils says. “The trip to Gabès during the harvest was fundamental. Experiencing the pace of the land, the almost ritual relationship with the olive tree, and the way knowledge is passed down through generations gave real substance to the project. Tacapae is not just an olive oil, it’s a cultural landscape distilled.”
Left, the annual harvest brings together friends, artists, and the community. Right, Hajjaj designed three limited-edition bottles inspired by motifs seen around Gabès. Photos: Courtesy of Tacapae.
There is a personal connection, too. Vhils’ grandfather had an olive farm, and growing up in Portugal the olive tree was part of his own landscape and memory. “The bottle comes from that respect. Not as packaging, but as an extension of land and memory—a quiet object that carries layers of history, identity, and human labour.”
Becoming an olive-oil producer may seem like a departure for eL Seed, but it’s a return to his roots. Born and raised in Paris, he spent summers in Gabès, formative experiences that connected him to his ancestral home. It’s a place that makes him feel grounded, and he hopes more people will visit. Most visitors bypass Gabès on their way to the cave dwellings in Matmata or the beaches of Djerba.
“I don’t believe I’m bringing anything new here, but I want to show that you can do beautiful things with very little,” he says. “Like sitting on the grass and tasting olive oil and bread. People from Gabès might not see the beauty in that, but people from outside just say ‘wow’.”
The farm is larger now than when eL Seed’s great-grandfather planted the first 31 olive trees over a century ago. Tall palms tower over pomegranate trees and alfalfa fields. Olives have been grown in this region for generations, cared for using traditional methods. At harvest time, women farmworkers dressed in colourful kaftans scale pink ladders to brush the olives from the trees. Harvesting by hand protects the trees and the olives from the damage that can be done by machine-harvesting. The olives are small, with hues that range from pale green through rich pinks to deep purples.
His engagement with the land is not new. In 2013, his Lost Walls project, a month-long road trip through Tunisia, conveyed a message of love, hope, and unity in murals throughout the country—including on his grandparents’ former home on the edge of the olive grove. The faded painting can still be seen, featuring lines from a poem written by a member of his family: Temoula, land of my ancestors. There is no one like you.
For fans of street art, Gabès is now home to multiple murals by eL Seed, as well as by Futura and Osgemeos. But Tacapae is a project that goes beyond art and olive oil. For eL Seed, it’s about creating a space where artists and collaborators can connect with the land, the people who care for it, and the sustenance it provides.
