French street artist C215 have recently worked on a series of murals that serve as reminders of the human cost of the war in Ukraine.
C215’s works are also testament to the talents of a man whose graffiti skills helped him overcome a traumatic youth to become one of France’s leading street artists — a one-time Banksy collaborator who has tagged walls all over the world. Real name Christian Guemy, the 49-year-old unveiled the huge new portrait of the Ukrainian girl last week in the 13th arrondissement of Paris.
It carries a quote from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said to his staff when he was elected in 2019: “I really don’t want my photos in your offices, because I am neither a god nor an icon, but rather a servant of the nation. Instead, hang pictures of your children and look at them whenever you want to make a decision.”
“It’s a universal message of support,” Guemy told AFP at his studio. “It challenges us to think about the ongoing humanitarian drama in Ukraine and the responsibility of politicians to do something. I can’t ignore the incursions of big politics into people’s daily lives.”
Take a look below for more murals created by C215 in war-stricken places of Ukraine.
A mural in Zhytomyr, an Ukrainian City near Belarus where rockets have fallen. “I did paint children faces in a building fully destroyed by Russian bombs. It has been painful but important to see the reality of the situation there” said the artist.
A mural of portrait of C215’s son Gabin in Jytomyr, near Belarus, in a flat destroyed by Russian rockets. The artist worked on this thinking to himself it is in this tiny room where an Ukrainian kid had to abandon his life to escape and survive.
Mural within the flats in Zhytomyr, Ukraine
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