A French Land artist wanted to create something signifying solidarity that will eventually send a message to humanity about the global migrant crisis.
To do this, Guillaume Saype Legros painted a massive painting of a ´human chain´ of migrant hands interlocking each other that is 1,970-foot long in front of the Eiffel Tower conveniently days before the World Refugee Day that took place last June 20.
This artistic creation, which is the first installation of his new project called “Beyond Walls” is made entirely of natural and biodegradable products as a tribute to support a migrant assistant charity SOS Méditerranée, whose work rescues migrants that are highly at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. Eventually, the land painting will soon fade and disappear once the grass starts growing again and pedestrians walk on it. This is part of a three-year project that will be featured in 20 other major cities such as London, Berlin, Nairobi and Buenos Aires. All artworks will showcase similar images of hands and arms linked together, BBC reported.
According to a statement made by the President of SOS Méditerranée Francis Vallat to Global Citizen, the interlocking arms is a symbolism of the first human contact that shipwrecked people have once they are rescued near Libya.
“The Central Mediterranean remains the world’s most deadly migration route,” Vallat said.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have recorded that in 2018, one in 18 refugees or migrants that have attempted to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea from Northern Africa either die or go missing. Risking their lives has turned into a normal occurrence in order to flee the violence, persecution and poverty present in their countries.
This is not Saype´s first artwork cause to support SOS Méditerranée. Back in 2018, he created another large-scale, biodegradable masterpiece of a young girl releasing an origami boat into the water in Geneva, Switzerland. The viral painting pushed the Swiss Confederation to raise their flag on the Aquarius ship to continue doing rescue missions.
“We want to send a message of optimism and the desire to live together to the world,” Saype said about his latest painting.
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