A mural, inspired by life under coronavirus lockdown in Greece, is gathering attention in the northern Greek city of Drama, where the breathtaking street art was painted on the side of an apartment building.
Using the building’s 15-foot wide wall as his canvas, street artist Lefteris Toulis, trained at the renowned School of Fine Arts in Thessaloniki, created a mural masterpiece reflecting Greece under lockdown.
The piece shows a figure, modeled after classical Greek sculpture, framed by an ancient temple and a traditional, nineteenth-century home, both distinctly Greek.
After five days of work, the massive painting was completed shortly before the holidays — with permission from the city.
Inspired mainly by the current coronavirus pandemic, but also other global ills, such as climate change and pollution, Toulis created a piece of art that is hauntingly beautiful, and one for the ages.
The figure, who exists both in the ancient and contemporary eras, wears a protective mask, apparently against Covid-19.
However, mirroring our current situation, ancient Athens also experienced an extremely contagious, albeit much more dangerous illness, labeled the “Great Plague of Athens.”
The epidemic, which scientists and researchers have long attempted to identify, wiped out nearly one fourth of the city-state’s population in the fifth century BC.
Cleverly, the 30-year old artist connected this ancient plague to Greece’s current situation under national lockdown.
A Greek God for Our Time
Speaking to AMNA, Toulis compared the figure to the contemporary Greek citizen, stating: “Wearing his mask, he fights within his own neighborhood… he fights for his life, to stand on his own two feet, with a crutch, or a staff, as his weapon.”
In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, many Greeks are facing “poverty and insecurity” about their futures, something that Toulis stressed is not new for the country, which has battled myriad difficulties in its long history.
In creating the awe-inspiring piece, Toulis stated that he also hoped to construct an ancient Greek god for the current age, who “patiently awaits a brighter future” and reflects “the personal fight each one of us gives every day.”
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