#WATWB Beyond Walls Land Art

It’s the last Friday of the month of this year 2021, which means bloggers from around the world post an item of news that is uplifting in these very difficult times.

This one caught my eye, not only because this extraordinary land art has ‘landed’ in Cape Town, but for what it represents – ‘… unity, mutual aid and common effort beyond geographical constraints …’.

Using tons of biodegradable paint the artist Saype (Say Peace) has done several very large frescoes across the world, eg the forecourt of the UN in Geneva, with a message of togetherness. The Mother City, Cape Town, South Africa represents an essential step of the project due to its history marked by Apartheid. “Beyond Walls” symbolises the breaking down of political and social barriers among communities with the hope to further encourage positive dialogue. It forms the largest human chain in the world. The one in Cape Town has installations of land art in Cape Town itself as well as in two suburbs, of two forearms clasping each other.

For the fuller story, please see the link below.

Cape Town, Sea Point
The Largest Human Chain in the World Crosses Cape Town

Our co-hosts for this month are below. Please check them out for a good dose of positive news, which helps negate the darkness, and spread the message on social media using the #WATWB

SylviaMcGrath https://www.professorowlsbookcorner.wordpress.com/

Simon Falk https://simonfalk28.wordpress.com/

Shilpa Garg http://shilpaagarg.com/

Mary Giese https://maryjmelange.wordpress.com/

Belinda Witzenhausen https://bwitzenhausen.wordpress.com/

Thank you for reading. I hope this finds you well wherever you are and may the Force be with you.

It’s full moon tonight (Thurs) so here’s a photo I’ve just taken

54 Comments on #WATWB Beyond Walls

  3. Such a wonderful work of art and such a beautiful statement, love it!
    Thank you so much for sharing this post and for being a part of #WATWB.
    Hope you have a wonderful week!

    • It is isn’t it Belinda, thanks for coming by and thank YOU for being such an essential part of #WATWB. You too have a great week 🙂

  4. What an amazing project, Susan. I hadn’t heard of it before. Thanks for sharing.
    That full moon was just glorious too.
    Best wishes for 2021.

  5. So connecting, Susan. It makes me want to reach out for someone’s hand. I hope it won’t be much longer. Sending love to you and hope for both our countries.

    • Virtual hands and imagination help somewhat I suppose, if only to realise more deeply the value of connection. Funny how we value something more when it’s been lost. Or maybe not so funny 🙂 Love to you Elaine and here’s hoping that peace reigns.

    • Isn’t it lovely! My elder son will be going to Cape Town tomorrow and he will see it with his own eyes. Thanks for coming by Ally Bean and have a great week.

  8. This fresco is stunning, Susan, and the story around it is lovely too. I hope you are well. I heard today that the beaches are still closed – I didn’t know that, I thought they’d opened early in January. Seems a bit odd now that all the holiday makers have gone home.

    • The beaches have been closed for a long while Robbie. Today there was a country wide protest of this banning at various beaches, and where I am, I took part in a peaceful one this morning. Law enforcement officers were around … let’s hope that the beaches are unbanned soon. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

  9. Oh, wow, Susan, this is breathtaking, and the symbolism, powerful! Thank you for bringing this to my attention and sharing it this January. “…encouraging unity and understanding…” “…courageous conversations…” Fascinating and a great reminder of how mankind can go in the right direction despite challenging times. I hope you and loved ones are well. Full moon photo……wow!❤️

    • Glad you found it so Erica. We need reminders of our common humanity and ‘courageous conversations’ to walk alongside them. All well here thanks, hot, still early morning. About to join others for a protest on the beach. The banning of beaches, while it’s ok to shop in malls and go to casinos makes no sense to anyone. It’s crippled the tourist industry. Soooooo 🙂 Hope you’re all well, have a lovely weekend, and be well, stay safe 🙂 xx

      • I do not ‘get it’ on banning beaches. We are encouraged to get out to nature in a safe, healthy manner. Good luck on the protest, Susan. xx 🙂

        • It was a very peaceful protest thankfully with law enforcement officers standing by. People kept socially distant, we clapped for quite a long time. A bit of fist pumping by placard holders. I’m glad I went. Thanks Erica ❤️ (am on my iPad so I can use emojis it seems 😀)

    • Thanks Jacqui, perhaps Saype’s way of painting is a way of reminding us of a potential solution to life’s/world’s problems?

  11. Some people have such vivid imagination to go with artistic skill to create bold images for others to see–for limited time, using environmentally correct processes.

  12. Thank you, Susan. This is awesome and so very hopeful. Maybe enough studying visual reminder like this will help people see things differently! Love, Jeanie

    • Thanks Jeanie! Yes it’s a real visual statement isn’t it, which ‘hopefully’ makes the desired impact. It does for me, the shared humanity, chains that do not bind, the black and white of it and the artistry .. Love to you, be well and safe and have a lovely weekend.

  13. What gorgeous, beautiful art! Living in a city where there are a number of public art works on buildings and the landscape, I truly appreciate the Capetown fresco and it’s message of equality in humanity. Thank you for sharing!

    • Thanks Mary for coming by – also for co-hosting this month. We’re quite big on land art here in SA and it’s so wonderful to see creatives’ art in all forms on display, on roofs, buildings (graffiti), open and closed spaces, beaches …have a lovely weekend and keep well, stay safe.

    • What a lovely surprise Tim and such a wonderful project, thank you for coming by! Wonderful to see so many familiar faces. Have a lovely weekend, keep safe and well.

  16. Hi Susan – what an interesting all embracing project … I will definitely have to keep an eye open for more of his works. Incredible how creative artists can be – just wonderful to see: while bringing hope to us all …

    … though your neighbour’s attack sounds appalling … so sad – but it tells a few political tales … sad to say. I’m glad he is ‘ok’ …

    Stay safe and all the best – Hilary

    • Hi Hilary, thanks for coming by. I’ve seen many land art installations around the country. The ones on the beach have been extraordinary .. none this time round for obvious reasons (no-one is allowed on the beaches – casinos and shopping malls are ok if you can believe it). Other ones dotted around the area – an elephant constructed from rock .. soooo creative!

      My neighbour is ok, he contacted me today. Still shook up, bruises are coming down …

      All the best to you, and have a lovely weekend 🙂

  17. Wow, that is fantastic, Susan. Can you see it from the street as well or only from a bird’s eye view. And quite the full moon last night. I saw it just crest over the horizon, big as a pancake! Have a lovely weekend. xox

    • I reckon it’s a bird’s eye view Pam … without going back to check other sources I think this one on the Cape Town promenade is 6700 ft (or metres) long. Obviously very visible on the ground. It’s still light here, going on 7.30 pm so I await to see the almost full moon arising again over the mountains shortly! HAve a lovely weekend 🙂 xx

  18. Thank you again for broadcasting good news. The art piece is bold and beautiful, the linked arms a “necklace” between land and sea – boundaries and bonds.

    I also like the “bond” of looking at the full moon no matter our geographical coordinates on the planet. Thanks so much, Susan. Have a great weekend!

    • Thanks Marian for coming by. A ‘necklace’ between land a sea’ – that is lovely. With the mountain and clouds in the background, all among the promenade that I know so well. I may try to visit Cape Town before the land art and other events end …

      You too have a lovely weekend, and I love the idea of the light of the moon also creating a bond … 🙂

  20. Thank you for sharing this amazing and lovely landscape art. It’s beautiful, as well as hopeful, Susan!
    The moon was gorgeous here last night, too. It’s early morning now and still dark, and it’s brilliant in the sky still.

    • I love it when others see something else as you have Merril. Yes, it is hopeful!

      Glad that you got to see it too, and that she’s still beaming in the early morning. I saw her rising above the mountains. It was so beautiful. Have a wonderful weekend, keep safe and well 🙂

  21. In the words of Pam Gregory, my favourite astrologer, ”We’re all in this together, holding hands digitally and spiritually.”

    Thank you so much Susan for sharing another uplifting #WATWB story with us! In times of global pandemics, dangerous politics and angry mob rule protests when we’re not able to physically hold hands … the artwork is speaking volumes.

    So inspiring! Hope you and your family are safe and well. Sending love, light and a few wild howls under this beautiful, full Wolf moon, Deborah.

    • That’s a lovely and succinct phrase of Pam Gregory’s Deborah, thank you for sharing it. It says it all. And the more I think and feel about the frescoe, you’ve also said it so well about holding hands if not physically, then at least in another very real way.

      All is well here. Drama everywhere in my beleaguered country. The politicians are showing their true colours. An awful incident the other day of our neighbour who was physically attacked in his home in broad daylight. Thankfully, he is ‘ok’. With the community watchdogs, the police and the community pulling together and the use of a drone, they found them and all the goods that had been stolen.

      Wild wolf moon greetings to you Deborah, can you hear me baying? Love to you, keep safe and well, and thank you for coming by 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend.

      • The fresco is so beautiful Susan it makes me want to weep (again!). I write this because I seem to weep a lot lately … down here in my long, dark (yet cosy) rabbit hole, especially for Mother Earth.

        Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about your neighbour, how very upsetting! Thank goodness he’s okay and his property has been returned but no doubt the experience would’ve shaken him up quite a bit.

        Back to that “Human Chain” … it makes me think of how in these dark times that someone is looking out for us and when needed we can feel their hand in ours. Yes, let’s all bay to Mother Moon! xx

        • Deborah, I’ve now got a lump in my throat and dust in my eye. It’s good to feel these sentiments of good strong chains that depict strength and unity and not any other kind of ‘chain’ … and as Merril commented (lovely poetess) it’s ‘hopeful’ 🙂 xx

  22. Hi, Susan – That fresco is simply stunning. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. The longer that I looked, the more I noticed something new.
    Thanks you for sharing this with us.

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