Artist Saype spray paints iconic 'Beyond Walls' frescoes in Cape Town

An aerial view shows a giant land-art fresco by French artist Saype, painted for the 9th step of his worldwide "Beyond Walls" project in Langa township, Cape Town, South Africa January 22, 2021. Valentin Flauraud for Saype/via REUTERS

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - On a sandy patch with tufts of grass in Cape Town's impoverished Philippi shantytown, French artist Saype checks a laminated image before adding details to a huge fresco spray-painted on the ground, part of a global project he hopes will foster unity in an increasingly polarised world.

Guided by wooden pegs, Saype painstakingly builds up the final image of two hands clasping each other's forearms in the windswept corner of an old cement factory and surrounded by a sea of wooden and tin shacks.