With Murad Subay and Andrea Villa it was just an instant connection.

After months of chat, e-mails and confidences,

this journalistic project has taken shape.

I interviewed Murad on a June afternoon, with thousands of kilometers and an hour of time zone to divide us. A phone call via WhatsApp. He called me at the appointed time.

Murad Subay is the most famous Yemeni street artist in the world, cited by a myriad of European and American publications interested in this young “Yemeni Banksy”, as they like to call him.

On his Wikipedia page, he is defined as a contemporary artist and political activist, and you can read the fundamental stages of his growth.

The revolution, the road, the war and

the road again.

Always with heroism in his gaze, if one can speak and write about heroism, about a thirty-year-old who consciously gave up his freedom to give hope to his people «who no longer dream», with an exceptional degree of courage and self-denial.

Yemen - the poorest country in the Middle East - is the scene of an endless war.

The latest war, which has continued since 2015, is the result of a scenario that changed between the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, when Ali Abdullah Saleh, the head of the country for over thirty years, left power following of the so-called "Arab Spring", which in Yemen was led with the Houthis (Shiite Zaydite group, a fringe of Shiism of which about 35 percent of the Yemeni Muslim population belongs) and the Islah group, within which there were also the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood. Saleh ruled the country since 1978, first only North Yemen, and then the United Republic of Yemen after unification (May 1990).

A slow and complicated political transition, supported and shaped at will by the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council - which include Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia - led to the election of Abdel Rabbo Monsour Hadi, who thus became the new president. Hadi's election was recognized by Arab countries and the West.

Yemen is in dire need of peace. Today it is in the throes of a humanitarian nightmare, with outbreaks of cholera and diphtheria, hunger and devastation.

Furthermore, Co-Vid19 has done nothing but push the country to the brink of famine and economic collapse.

The pandemic caused by the viral strain SARS-CoV-2 recorded a mortality rate of 29% (World Health Organization data, January 2021). Reported cases are also likely to be underestimated, due to limited testing capacity and difficulty in accessing care services, as well as fear of falling victim to one of several attacks on healthcare facilities.

In short, what is happening in Yemen is not a trivial clash between good and bad, but a very complicated attempt to defend interests, on many sides, where the population is at the expense.

But not only that: the future of the new Yemeni generations also passes through school and education, today in crisis more than ever. In this devastating scenario, Murad Subay had to grow up quickly: first a shy and solitary boy, then a determined and courageous man, who, using his art, tries to restore hope in the eyes and intentions of his compatriots.

Education in Yemen has passed into the hands of the military. A fascist regime that is destroying our future as well as our present.

"Murad Subay"

An entire generation of children in Yemen sees no future,

due to limited or no access to education

"Meritxell Relaño"

UNICEF representative in Yemen

«I was born in the city of Dhamar (in 1987, ed), and in the early 1990s we moved to the capital Sana'a.

Ho quattro fratelli e tre sorelle: è stata sicuramente un’infanzia segnata dalla povertà, ma dignitosa.

I have four brothers and three sisters: it was certainly a childhood marked by poverty, but dignified.

Thanks to the sacrifices of my father, we got the chance to study: I ​​remember that for me it was a very troubled time, since I even changed 9 schools. Especially for this reason I had no friends, couldn't bond with anyone, and felt disconnected from sociability. I had become very taciturn, thoughtful. I started drawing in 2001, I remember that day well... oh yes,

I remember that the light went out in the house due to an explosion a few blocks away. I took paper and pencil and drew, in the dark: a simple thing, a sketch of the bedroom, which I then showed to my brothers and sisters. It was like a miracle, and from there I continued to express myself by drawing».

"FUCK WAR" This is the title of one of the latest Murad Subay’s murals, fresh paint on the bricks of the facade of a building destroyed by bombs, on a common street in Sana'a.

«In 2012, after the revolution, I created the first campaign “Color the walls of your street”,

where I started drawing and painting on the destroyed walls.

Then on my Facebook page I asked my fellow citizens to join me, and every Thursday morning,

for three months, dozens and dozens of young and old helped me draw and paint the walls.

It was beautiful, and the effect spread to other Yemeni cities.

- Murad remembers -

Today, the situation in Yemen is dire.

We are suffering from serious diseases such as cholera and diphtheria, which are decimating the population.

"People have lost everything, and they have stopped dreaming"

Murad Subay

«This is the way I know to fight: street art is a weapon that strikes without killing, and indeed gives people hope. During the revolution, in 2011, I thought I had seen the worst, but no: it was nothing compared to the war that broke out three years ago, and which continues today.

It is a devastating situation at every level, you no longer dream, there is frustration, you are hungry. But over time I realized that it doesn't matter what you feel, be pessimistic about the future or optimistic. It does not change anything.

What can really change things is taking action. Trying to keep doing something for my people gives me strength, giving vent to people's voices hits close to home for me. And now more than ever I want to continue doing it».

Being optimistic or pessimistic doesn't change anything. What makes the difference is to act, to do something. Art gives me strength, and gives strength to people

"Murad Subay"