Have you noticed a portion of the Sea Point promenade cordoned off and a man spray painting grey and black across the grass? If you were wondering what it is, it is the beginning of Stage 9 of an international art exhibition by the artist Saype.
With assistance from a local team, the French graffiti artist whose real name is Guillaume Legro, is spray-painting a giant mural of two hands clasping each other as part of his “Beyond Walls” project. Using biodegradable paint, this self-taught painter is completing the 9th of a planned 30 installations across the world.
Cape Town will be joining major cities such as Paris, Berlin and Istanbul as locations for this artwork. Other African countries already painted include Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Yamoussoukro in Cote d’Ivoire.
The project invites people to mutually aid, serve kindness and live together peacefully. On his website, Saype explained his goal is “to symbolically create the largest human chain in the world”. This is created through the two hands intertwined and clasping together despite all the walls we build between ourselves.
“South Africa is an essential step in the project due to its history by Apartheid,” explains signs all around the project. “Beyond Walls symbolises the breaking down of political and social barriers among communities with the hope to further encourage positive dialogue.”
Another two versions of this artwork will also be created in Phillippi Village and Langa once the Sea Point one is completed.
