In a fairly low-key event due to the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations celebrated the 75th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter in the American city of San Francisco with a massive biodegradable fresco on the lawn of the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Charter of the United Nations was signed on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, and came into force on 24 October 1945.
The fresco called ‘World in Progress’ was created by 31-year-old French graffiti artist Guillaume Legros, also called Saype. The landart painting covers 6,000 square metres and shows two children sitting in a circle, drawing their ideal world, surrounded by animals and other humans. The profound artwork, which has been drawn to remind today’s generation of their duty to nature and to the future, has been created from biodegradable paints made from natural pigments such as coal and chalk.
This artwork has been donated by the host country, Switzerland.
“Through children one can express deep thoughts, but in a lighter and poetic way. You can speak about the world and the values we are leaving them,” Saype told Reuters.
On the occasion of the virtual commemoration of the signing of the charter, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video address that “global pressures are spiraling up” and “today’s realities are as forbidding as ever.” He also spoke about racism, intolerance, and protests in the world against inequality, corruption, and lack of opportunity.
Discussing how members of about 50 nations of the world signed the UN Charter in 1945 to “plant the seeds of something better and new,” he urged nations and people to do the same today.
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