In pictures: Social media art mourns Turkey-Syria earthquake victims
Turkish artist Hediye Sumeyra Korkmaz has shared a number of images in order to drive donations to the earthquake relief efforts. Her illustrations focus on specific themes, such as brotherhood, kindness and mercy, often based on actual photographs taken in the aftermath of the disaster. The image below is of an Azerbaijani man who packed his car with bedding, blankets and other aid and made his way to Turkey to help survivors. The caption means "being nice can heal you".
In this widely shared image, Palestinian illustrator Hadil Alsafadi depicts a Syrian mother cuddling her children in a crater caused by the earthquake as neighbours gather around to help. The rescuers come bearing ladders, lanterns and building material, as well as food. In the caption accompanying her Instagram post, she quotes a tradition attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, in which he says: “The believers in their affection, mercy and compassion for each other are of one body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.”
Prague-based visual artist Fuad al-Ymani shared his sketch of Syrian rescuers trying to shift rubble in their attempts to find survivors of the earthquake. Ymani said he spent a long time trying to find the best way to reflect the pain of the scenes coming out of the disaster zone. “I don’t think there is anything capable of expressing the amount of tragedy and pain this disaster has caused,” he wrote on Instagram.
