Artist Saype's 'Beyond Walls' installation in the Parc de la Grange, Geneva, Switzerland

© Valentin Flauraud/Shutterstoc

‘Beyond Walls’ for World Refugee Day

For World Refugee Day, we’re featuring an aerial view of ‘Beyond Walls,’ an art installation by the French artist Saype. In the span of five years, he aims to create the longest symbolic human chain around the world by constructing outdoor designs of interlaced hands just like this in over 20 cities. The first four were completed in 2019 in Paris, Andorra, Berlin and Geneva, Switzerland, shown here.

His series hopes to promote unity and kindness, which seems an apt message for World Refugee Day. According to the United Nations, which established World Refugee Day in 2000, every minute some 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution, or terror. Today’s observance is intended to raise awareness of their plight.