For many years we have shared certain values with Saype: inclusion, solidarity, and faith in a responsible form of art which is never an end in itself, but aims to stimulate reflection on the role we all have to play in preserving the world that we live in, by making concrete efforts.

With the Beyond Walls project, which began in June 2019, Saype set himself the goal of metaphorically creating the largest human chain on the planet. His enormous paintings on grass show hands that are intertwined, symbolically clasped, reaching across the walls that separate human beings and enclose them within mental or geographical compartments.

These “ephemeral” works of art have continued to welcome over twenty cities in various parts of the world into one vast human chain. The technique invented by Saype for painting on grass using completely biodegradable colours reduces environmental impact to a minimum, fading over time as the grass goes through its normal growth cycle.

To mark the occasion of World Earth Day and the opening of the 59th edition of the Biennale d’Arte, Venice has become the setting for the latest milestone in our collaboration with Saype: #EmbracingVenice, the newest chapter of the world-touring Land Art project, Beyond Walls.

The protagonists of the painter’s fresco are two hands that appear on a lawn sown atop a typical Venetian floating pontoon: another “ephemeral” work whose longevity is linked to natural phenomena, such as rainfall and the grass growth cycle, to highlight the fragility of life and our human responsibilities towards each other, different life forms, and the very planet on which we are fortunate enough to live.

The final stage will come when the grass used is replanted, thus completing one cycle and opening another.

©Valentin Flauraud for SAYPE

On 1 October 2020, Beyond Walls also came to Turin where, within the spellbinding setting of the Archaeological Park at the Palatine Gate, Saype brought to life a work of art that sprawls over more than 6,000 sqm, with two hands clasped in a gesture dedicated to solidarity, resilience and respect for the environment. The first stage of the project held in Italy was enabled with our support, in collaboration with the municipality of Turin and the Royal Museums, and also boasted Saype’s solo show on display in the Sabauda Gallery of Turin’s Royal Museums.

Thanks to his activism in social and environmental affairs, and as a pioneer of sustainable land art, Saype is also one of the stars of the 2022 Lavazza Calendar I Can Change The World, the work of multi-award-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki: the artist was photographed on the Knik glacier in Alaska in two shots intended to represent the relationship between humankind and nature.  

“Our lives and our actions are destined

to become traces of our passage

in this world, it is ours to know what to do with.”