French artist Saype recently brought a positive message of hope to Turkey as part of his Beyond Walls project. Eight months after the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquakes, he made his way to the Hatay province. This area is still struggling to rebuild after the natural disaster, and so Saype decided to find a way to send a message of hope from within the rubble.
After scouting for locations, Saype settled on the municipality of Defne as the location for his artwork. The 8,000-square-foot piece was created using natural pigments made of charcoal and chalk. This is the cornerstone of Saype’s work, as he’s dedicated to using eco-friendly material for his ephemeral artwork.
In the piece, two hands stretch across a now-vacant lot. Rendered in grayscale, they grip each other tightly. In the corner, a building still stands, battered and bruised from the earthquake. Rooms are exposed to the open air, while the belongings of those who once lived there are strewn about, abandoned in the aftermath. But Saype’s hands are a reminder that we are never truly alone. “With my work, I hope I have shown you that there is a lot of work to be done,” Saype told the people of Hatay in a video he published on his last day of work. “But we do not forget, we are together.”
Saype decided to create this work in Turkey as a way to shine a spotlight on the continued effects of the earthquake. In particular, he wanted to execute his piece before the winter, when the harsh temperatures make the living conditions more difficult. And while he was aware of the devastation from what he’s read about, he was still struck by the true effects that the earthquake had.
“It’s a region of a million people that was completely wiped off the map,” he stated. But it was only when he arrived and started driving around that he realized the true extent of what had occurred. Now, thanks to a limited-edition print of the artwork he painted in Hatay, he’s hoping to give back by raising funds for the community.
French artist Saype traveled to Hatay, Turkey, to create his latest piece of art.
He wanted to draw attention to the serious devastation that the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake caused.
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To create the artwork, he used natural pigments made from charcoal and chalk.
It’s his hope that the artwork will remind the people of Hatay that they are not alone.
He is now selling a limited-edition print of the piece to benefit the local community.
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