French artist Saype unveils latest monumental artwork on Mont Blanc

By Doloresz Katanich  with AFP  •  Updated: 06/07/2023 - 08:51

Known internationally for his monumental artworks, French artist Saype's latest piece, depicting a child and an elderly person, is located at more than 2,000 metres above sea level, in the northwestern Italian region of Aosta.

Saype has added the Italian Alps in his long list of enormous canvases. 

The self-taught French artist is known for drawing on the lawn of the UN headquarters, as well as in remote corners of the world such as a floating village in Benin. This time, however, he chose the green slopes of the Mont-Blanc to sketch a child and an elderly person.

"The idea is to build intergenerational bridges," says the artist. "The importance of building bridges between the elderly person -- who for me represents wisdom, experience -- and the youth which represents the future and is full of innocence, and so on. I think there simply is a message of contemplating nature."

The artist has created this form of art in 2012 when he realised that 'old-fashioned graffiti' can be diluted in the pollution of our current societies. He took his art closer to nature and gave it a proper size, with some of his artworks measuring up to 10,000 square metres.

French artist Saype's giant land art fresco showing a little girl droping an origami boat into Lake Geneva that he painted to support the cause of the NGO SOS Mediterrane.FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP

Using 100 per cent biodegradable paint, he keeps creating messages about solidarity, tackling sensitive issues such as the migrant crisis in Europe and the Covid pandemic.

In 2018, he made an art piece in support of the SOS Mediterranean association, carried out in the heart of Geneva, which was reportedly seen by 120 million people.

After this remarkable success, Saype embarked on a global project in 2019. His ambition is to symbolically create the largest human chain in the world by recreating the same artwork in more than 30 cities. 

Watch the video above to see more of Saype's art and his human chain project.

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ARTIST ENVIRONMENT MONT BLANC SOLIDARITY MIGRANTS