“A picture is worth 1,000 words,” as the old saying goes, and so is this graffiti by an Athenian artist who took aim at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Pictured above is the work of nationally acclaimed graffitist Antonis Hambas, who tagged Erdogan’s face on the side of a garbage bin on the day of the Epiphany, January 7.
Passersby found Hambas’ Erdogan tag in Pangrati, a middle-class neighborhood in the Athens center.
Pictures of the street art gained mild social media traction at first. But they’ve since gone viral on the Greek internet amid recent tensions between Greece and Turkey — and threats by Erdogan — related to the refugee crisis.
Media outlet Proto Thema published an article with the headline (translated from Greek) “The ‘Greek Banksy’ Strikes Again: He Painted Erdogan on a Garbage Can.”
The headline refers to Hambas as Greece’s version of the notorious Banksy, an anonymous British graffitist known worldwide for his satirical perspective and dark humor.
Hambas uses various materials and subjects to portray both abstract and realistic figures. He began as a painter in 2012 and by 2014 had participated in group exhibitions in Athens, Thessaloniki and New York City.
In 2015 he designed the Central Market of Athens with art spanning approximately 100 feet. Since then, he has collaborated with companies such as Coca Cola, Malboro, Superga and Nike.
