“Beyond Walls” is an international art installation by artist Saype. Minneapolis is one of 22 cities on four continents and the first in the United States. Saype paints with biodegradable natural pigments on grass. A photo was on display by the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board with an aerial view of the piece. (Davis Steen)
A giant picture of intertwined hands titled “Beyond Walls,” painted by the internationally acclaimed artist Saype, has appeared on the grass of Boom Island Park on the Mississippi River’s east bank.
The French-born artist describes his monumental work as the largest symbolic human chain and traveling art project in the world. “I envision it as bridges between communities,” he said.
Saype’s hands have already reached across four continents since “Beyond Walls” was launched in 2019 at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The project has since stretched to Berlin, Geneva, Venice, Istanbul, Cape Town, Tokyo and Cairo.
Minneapolis is its 22nd stop and the first city in the United States to welcome this globally recognized public art initiative. The hyper-realistic land painting measures 250 feet long by 50 feet wide.
Because his works are so large, the increased accessibility of drones now and when he first started working at a bigger scale, gained a greater following for Saype’s projects and allowed him new perspectives.
Northeast Minneapolis resident John Cappola advised, “You need to be in a drone flying above it to see and really appreciate it. But it’s really cool.”
Saype started painting at Boom Island on Monday, June 1, 2026, after a media kickoff with city and park officials including Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) Superintendent Al Bangoura. The completed depiction of massive hands drew crowds to the park on June 5 and 6 as the public joined hands for a photo of a human chain, listened to the artist speak and celebrated the work’s ephemeral existence.
Saype seeks to leave no trace in nature. He is a pioneer, quite literally, in the field of grass painting. “It took me three years to invent the process,” he explained.
He uses natural, biodegradable materials including chalk, wood charcoal and casein, a milk-based fixative which helps resist rain. It all fades as the grass grows, the weather changes and viewers interact. The work could last anywhere from three weeks to months.
Saype predicted, “It will be the growing of the grass that will make it disappear.”
Attendees posed for the drone photograph on Friday, June 5. (Davis Steen)
Why Boom Island?
Saype described the selection of Boom Island as “an alignment of worlds.”
Saype has said it is essential that his art addresses social conflicts and that he wants to attract people’s attention and impact mentalities. He credits his early training as a nurse for drawing him closer to “existential questions such as the suffering of the human being.”
After watching global media coverage of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis and beyond, he mused, “There were lots of troubles we saw, and I realized that ‘Beyond Walls’ was relevant to here and could perhaps help heal fractures, make people dream.
“Artists can change people’s minds. We are eight billion people on this planet and we are so interconnected. Yet, there are lots of fractures.”
Saype has chosen nature as the biggest art studio in the world, and it is critical to him that his project sites already have elements for success. At Boom Island, he explained, “It was all here. There’s the downtown as a backdrop, the beautiful park and the Mississippi River which is a line connecting north and south.
“I think my project may resonate here differently than it would in another city or another place.”
“Minneapolis was not chosen by accident,” Mayor Frey said. “This is recognition for our resilience and compassion for our neighbors. Paris has got the Eiffel Tower and Cairo has the pyramids, but in Minneapolis, we got each other.
“We have the best park system because we not only have beautiful space with rivers and lakes, but because we also invest in it.
“This will be an emblem to our whole city. The art highlights what sets Minneapolis apart.
“The name of our city was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Saype understood what was unique here and set about to celebrate it. This is not a mess-around guy. He is an international artist of stature.”
Artist Saype uses fluid-spraying equipment manufactured by Minnesota-based company Graco to create his pieces. (Karen R. Nelson)
Saype the artist
Saype’s chosen name combines “say” and “peace,” two words he used early on as a self-taught graffiti artist who began painting at age 14 in the streets of the French-Swiss border town of Évette-Salbert. His given name is Guillaume Legros.
At age 29, in 2019, Saype was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Art and Culture honorees who are “the best in the world because in their success, and through their creativity, they champion originality and goodness.”
It seems “Beyond Walls” is a demonstration of this philosophy.
Instead of sponsors, Saype’s projects are self-funded by selling print editions of his works. This gives him the freedom to choose where he wants to work.
At the launch, he thanked the city, MPRB and Graco, the Minnesota-based company which introduced him to Minneapolis. Graco specializes in the fluid spraying equipment that Saype uses.
The project came together quickly within one month. “It’s really rare that people open the doors,” Saype commented.
Although Graco is moving its headquarters from Northeast Minneapolis to the northwest suburbs of Rogers and Dayton, they have left a legacy in helping to facilitate this artwork and enable the creation of the new adjacent Graco Park, now connected to Boom Island (724 Sibley St. NE.) by an under-the-road pedestrian tunnel.
Connections are indeed the project’s under-and-overlying theme.
While working, Saype likes to photograph hands clasping, which he then uses to create subsequent paintings. Just before he started to spray the Boom Island grass, he photographed the linked hands of Mayor Frey and Al Bangoura. Later a public photo booth was set up to capture community hands.
“It’s both a universal and personal gesture that’s understood internationally at the same level,” he elaborated.
“We are guests on this planet, living in a world that’s interconnected, and we need to work together for a bright future. Two hands together is a symbol of this.”