Worldrise Walls

📍 Centro Visite Al Gawsit, Serranova (Brindisi)
📍 KuCoNa Create and Connect Centre, Kurland (South Africa)

“One Ocean One Connection” celebrates the interconnection between ecosystems and communities across the ocean, which unites distant yet similar places, such as Italy and South Africa, transforming Puglia into a creative hub that connects communities, ecosystems, and cultures.

The project is part of the application process for the Torre Guaceto State Nature Reserve and Marine Protected Area to become a UNESCO MAB (Man and Biosphere) Biosphere Reserve and promotes an international partnership between Torre Guaceto and the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve in South Africa. Created by Worldrise with the support of the Plum Foundation and in collaboration with the Torre Guaceto Management Consortium, ‘One Ocean One Connection’ has given rise to two interconnected twin murals: one at the ‘Al Gawsit’ Visitor Center in Serranova, Brindisi, and the other at the KuCoNa Create and Connect Centre in the village of Kurland, South Africa.

Artists Kabo (Gabriele Quarta) in Italy and Lance Khoury in South Africa have transformed the thoughts, words, and drawings of over 170 children involved in educational and creative workshopsheld in Puglia into works of art, with the participation of young people from Brindisi, Carovigno, San Vito dei Normanni, and Mesagne, the four Apulian municipalities involved in the MAB application process, and in the primary schools of Nature’s Valley and the villages of Kurland and Kranshoek. Their visions inspired the artistic narrative, becoming the heart of the message of connection and shared responsibility for the future of the sea.

Gabriele Quarta, known as Kabo, was born in 1996 and grew up in Monteroni, a small town in the province of Lecce. It was here that he began to express himself using the walls of the urban space as if they were the pages of his diary. His inclination for art emerged early on, along with the awareness of his desire to become an artist at all costs. The first step in his artistic journey was the Ciardo-Pellegrino art high school, a place that inspired Kabo and where he was able to develop his artistic research. During his years of study, he began to define his artistic vision. The next step was to move to Milan to study painting at one of the most important art academies in the world, the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Kabo graduated with honors in painting and, in the meantime, began working first with art galleries and then in street art, expressing himself on the walls of cities. It was in this art form that he found his balance, creating an unmistakable style. Despite his young age, he immediately gained important recognition in Italy, winning significant competitions. He founded Putea, a cultural association based in his art studio and in his homeland, which has become a point of reference in the area. In 2023, he introduced a new artistic movement called “urban biophilia,” which intertwines urban art with the surrounding natural elements.

Lance Khoury is an artist specializing in commissioned oil paintings and murals. Growing up in a family of artists, he quickly discovered the joy of creating beautiful things for people.
After school, he attended art school for a few years before traveling to the UK, where he gained experience in decoration and graphic design. Returning to South Africa, he found a home in the beautiful coastal town of Knysna.
He initially worked as a special effects artist, decorating walls and furniture with specific painting techniques. Later, as his experience grew, he began doing commissioned oil paintings and creating murals for restaurants.
Now, 25 years later, he specializes in commissioned oil paintings and charcoal drawings, as well as murals for private clients and large public spaces. For Lance, it is a great joy to work with this wide variety of clients, bringing their visions to life using his creative skills.

The two main subjects of the interconnected murals are the sea turtle and the whale: both migratory animals and travelers, they represent Italy and South Africa and the connection between distant places across the same vast, shared ocean. Between the turtle, symbol of slowness, memory, and resilience, and the whale, emblem of depth and ancestral connection with the sea, a bright and shining sun rises, as a meeting point between the two places. The waves carry the words “the ocean connects us,” also translated into English, African, and Xhosa, one of South Africa’s eleven official languages: a universal message of shared responsibility that crosses the ocean and generations.

“One Ocean One Connection” is an act of poetic artivism: it shows that even distant communities can meet, collaborate, and create together, protecting marine ecosystems through art, sharing, and creativity.

📍 Via Martiri Oscuri 14, Milano 
🌳 100 m² of equivalent forest

Francesco Bedini, known as Bedo, is a graphic designer, illustrator, web designer, writer, and founder of the creative studio BMFactory. With a strong background in the humanities, after graduating he pursued his passion for drawing and graphic design, becoming a graphic designer and attending the Comics School at Civica Scuola Arte & Messaggio in Milan.

At only 23 years old, in 2001, he founded the communication agency Aftermedia, gaining valuable experience that in 2005 led him to create the creative studio BMFactory in Milan. In 2001, he also ranked among the top places at the Italian Web Awards for Best Creative Idea.

He collaborates with various advertising agencies and creates illustrations for children’s books and notebooks. He has participated in several events and exhibitions, such as Freeride Tour (2006, sponsored by K2, Gxt, and Nescafè), Street Art, Sweet Art (2007, PAC Milan), Pitti Uomo (Florence 2007), Write4Food (2008), Vuote e Rendere (2008), Writing alla ribalta (Milan 2008), TVB (Monza 2009), White (Fashion Week 2009, Milan), Street Erotique (Turin 2010), Meeting of Style (Zurich 2011), Identities (Milan 2011), The Broken Windows Theory (Los Angeles 2011), TDK The Neverending History (Milan and Turin 2013), Darth Human Fener (Milan and Turin 2013), Meeting of Style (Milan 2014), Play the City (Milan 2014), Faces (XL Combines 2014), and a solo exhibition (RAL8022 – Via Corsico 3, Milan, October 2014). On these occasions, he exhibited his works and, in some cases, performed live painting sessions.

Within the world of writing and freestyle, he also took part in organizing and managing the communication for major events such as Dway Contest (the first international BMX contest at Parco Lambro, Milan 2005) and Jam Galilei (1999–2008). For over 10 years, he has been part of two of the most active and historic writing crews in Milan and Italy: TDK and VMD 70’s.

There is a place that belongs to each of us, even if we don’t see it every day.
It is a place made of water, breath, roots, and life: it is the sea, to which, deep down, we are all bound.
In the mural “In the deep, we are the sea”, created by Bedo in the NoLo district of Milan, the sea’s surface divides two worlds: appearance and essence.

A body barely emerges, but beneath the waterline, humanity becomes one with the seabed: our lungs turn into algae, our heart beats among the corals.
There is no clear boundary between what we are and what the sea is, because deep down, we are the sea.

This is exactly where the artist began: with the desire to explore what it truly means to “know yourself.” The ancient Greeks said “Γνῶθι σεαυτόν” – “know thyself” – and in those words Bedo heard a marine echo, because knowing oneself is like diving: going beneath the surface, where identity merges with the sea and essence silently emerges among the currents.

Into the deep, diving into the waters of the Blue Planet does not only mean discovering new worlds, but also searching for ourselves, recognizing our profound connection with the ecosystem that has always sustained and nourished us.

This mural is a water mirror: it reflects who we are and invites us to look within.
By scanning the QR code featured in the artwork, you too can dive deep and join the wave of change by signing the Worldrise Manifesto for the future of the sea.

📍 Via Giovanni Battista Sammartini 49, Milan
🌳 12 m² of equivalent forest 

A pioneer of Italian graffiti art and 3D painting, from an early age Pongo expressed his innate talent for drawing, constructions and color compositions.
In the mid-1980s, during a working stay of his father with Andy Warhol in New York, he encountered street art. His rebellious spirit and creative fever, stimulated in him the urge to express those atmospheres with aerosol painting; his painting became Street Art, the one that even in Milan began to ignite and of which Pongo is among the precursors.
His activity as a “Street Writer” lasts several years until 2000.
Following the entry into the new millennium he has a period of reflection, which shifts his interests toward philosophical research, nature and sustainability of life on our planet. Today he uses painting toward artistic choices useful for his own and others’ human growth, without forgetting frontier experiences, consistent with his own past.

“Under the sea” is a 3D painted smog-absorbing mural that leads beyond simple visual perception to tell the story of plastic pollution in the sea, while leaving the air cleaner.
“Under the sea” shows the viewer what lies beneath the surface of the sea: in addition to an incredible diversity of animals and plants, the Blue Planet is invaded by plastic. Every year about 8.8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean, with serious consequences for the health of this ecosystem and all organisms, including humans, that depend on it.
Eighty percent of this waste comes from land-based sources-that is why it is so important that awareness of this issue starts in our cities, places where most of the population and waste production is concentrated and, at the same time, the setting where the natural environment is often the great absentee.
The street art work can be observed both without glasses with 3D filters and with the help of the red and blue lenses, to totally immerse oneself in its waves, and was created thanks to Gucci’s valuable contribution and the participation of its employees, who played an active role in selecting the theme of the mural and contributed to its creation by participating in a volunteer activity as part of the global Gucci Changemakers program.

📍 Via G. Savoia 2, Milan (Stadera neighborhood)
🌳 120 m² of equivalent forest 

Art, sustainability, enhancement and care for the land come together in Milan’s historic Stadera neighborhood, resulting in a work of street art that is good for the environment. From a collaboration with Fantastudio, a creative hub with projects that mix the feminine universe and creativity, comes the mural absorbing smog Cura.
The work, which spans more than 100 square meters in the blind wall of the People’s Building at Via G. Savoia 2, was created by the artists’ collective A m’l rum da me, with the support of Woolrich Outdoor Foundation.
In addition to the creation of the mural, the initiative also involved the inhabitants of the neighborhood, who were involved in various activities to raise awareness and enhance the area: on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 25 children took part in the informative and creative workshop “Draw Your World,” hosted by the association Centro Milano Donne in Via G. Savoia, 1. During the workshop, the key values of the project were elaborated in the drawings of the youngest children, thanks to the participation of Monica Previati, a marine biologist from Worldrise, and the artists who created the mural, Carlotta Moretti and Martina Ceccarelli.
To inaugurate the street art work, moreover, a street cleanup took place on Saturday, October 15, starting from Via G. Savoia 2 and reaching the Naviglio Pavese, involving more than 60 people and collecting a total of 15 bags of trash.

Cura is an imaginary representation of the Goddess Cura, and the narrative is driven by the element of water as the nature of becoming, now increasingly at risk due to man’s destructive intervention. The work, created with the natural photocatalytic smog-absorbing paint Airlite, narrates the concepts of solidarity and respect for the environment, focusing on the waste that inevitably ends up in our seas from cities. With a participatory approach, the project aims to generate the positive change the Planet needs.

📍 Via Saldini 31, Milan
🌳 54 m² of equivalent forest 

Friendship, passion and the attitude of always wanting to improve gave birth to this team, Technicalz. Fascinated by the pursuit of technical perfection, we decided to create a synergy between our styles to achieve an even higher result. We do commissioned work in every style (lettering, hyperrealism, pictorial style), of every size, from room to palace.

From the collaboration with the energy company AGN ENERGIA and the web platform dedicated to projects for the care and protection of common goods PlanBee, the smog-absorbing mural “Protect the E(art)h,” created by Technicalz Studio, was born.
The winning sketch of the #LATUAIDEAGREEN contest, conceived by AGN ENERGIA ENERGIA as part of the FAI – Fondo per l’ambiente Italiano’s national event “FAI Days for Schools,” came to life thanks to artists Federico Zenobi and Nicola Canarecci of Technicalz Studio and colors, for a total of 54 m², the external wall of one of the buildings of the Milan Polytechnic, at 31 Via Saldini, selected to host the work that tells about climate change and its impact on the marine world.
The mural depicts a coral, chosen as a symbolic element of the sea, likened to an underwater work of art, a true sculpture of the sea, accompanied by the inscription “Protect.” On the seafloor, several corals are disappearing due to bleaching phenomenon, linked to water pollution and rising temperatures.
Sea, color and awareness therefore arrive in Milan within walking distance with “Protect the E(art)h,” but that’s not all: in fact, the work also contributes to absorb smog and pollution from the city, because the mural is made with Airlite, the first climate-positive paint, capable of making the air cleaner thanks to an innovative technology inserted inside a 100% mineral product.

📍 Via Giovanni Battista Viotti 13, Milan
🌳 450 m² of equivalent forest 

Federico Massa aka “Iena Cruz,” a Milanese resident of New York City, has established an international reputation for his murals focusing on climate change, the risks posed by pollution, and the plight of endangered animal species.

The interaction of human beings with their host planet today is centered on an unconditional exploitation of its resources, to the point of justifying the opening of a new chapter in the geological history of our planet: the Anthropocene.
It is from this word that Iena Cruz conceived the title of the work named “AnthropOcean.” In fact, the work is meant to lead one to reflect on the scars left by man on the ocean floor and surface.

In the center of the composition, an oil rig extracts black gold by feeding a plastic bottle to symbolize the consumerist choices we absent-mindedly make on a daily basis. Thus the entire marine ecosystem is bottled up and with it the horizon of an increasingly uncertain and blurred future perspective.

 📍 Tempio del Futuro Perduto, Milan

Maurizio Giulio ROSK Gebbia and Mirko LOSTE Cavallotto are two Sicilian artists who, through the graffiti technique, have always combined figurative painting with street art.
They began their artistic journey almost simultaneously, crossing paths for the first time in 2004 among the desks of the Art Institute.

The fundamental mission of graffiti for the two artists is one that tends to redevelop, renew, and unearth beauty everywhere, even where there seems to be none.

The artwork aims to raise awareness by putting a focus on the issue of pollution from consumer materials at such a sensitive time, where it is true that a process of change aimed at solving the problem is beginning but where there is still a long way to go.
Rosk and Loste have depicted the polar bear, an endangered animal, swimming in waters polluted by products sold by the very corporations that use it as a mascot, drawing attention to this paradox and to send the message of how our habitat has changed for the worse, due to the ineffectiveness regarding the management of consumer materials, their dissemination and disposal.

 📍 San Girolamo Municipal Market, Bari

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

Work selected in the contest was intentionally created in the market area Mercato coperto di San Girolamo in the San Girolamo/Fesca neighborhood of Bari. A suburban area that was born as a fishing and holiday district, where the sea continues to be the characterizing and vital element of the citizens.
The work depicts in a surreal key the cultural traditions linked to the Bari area: A Sailor with a thick ultramarine blue beard brings fish from our seas to safety; from his boat-shaped hat, with the colors of the flag of the city of Bari, a triumphant blue whale takes flight toward a cleaner world.
“I was born at sea and I know there are things that cannot be explained. They just happen.” [quoting Luis Sepulveda’s The World at the End of the World].
A dream I had as a child, which today has become a sign.

 📍 MuMa Museo del Mare, Brancaleone Marina (RC)

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

“I divided the mural into two times, two moments. The before and the after…or if you prefer, alas, the while.
One part is represented by a Caretta caretta worried and intent on protecting its eggs, its future moreover already abundantly threatened by multiple factors.
The second scene depicts the now everyday , unfortunately, of the seabed laden with garbage and especially various plastics that create a habitat with which fish and our Caretta caretta live accustomed.
The intent of this work is to raise awareness among the youngest, but why not also the oldest, visitors to the sea museum to respect and care for our oceans, which also give us breath, and all the living things that inhabit it.”

 📍 Istituto Comprensivo Statale Caccin, Chioggia (VE)

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

“I represented in my drawing this turtle, bothered by a plastic bottle that in the shape of an octopus does not let it swim.
This is to raise awareness of how something as simple as a plastic bottle can become an enemy or better said almost a natural predator of this ecosystem.”

 📍 Istituto Leonardo Da Vinci, Florence

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

 📍 Cossiga Square, Golfo Aranci (SS)

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

“In my composition I wanted to represent the connection of human beings with marine biodiversity since on this planet all living creatures are part of the same unit: fragile when we are alone and strong when we stay together.”

 📍 Via Roma, Malfa, Salina Island (ME)

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

“The mural depicts Mother Nature embracing and protecting the heart of the Sea, this beating heart that regulates and determines the energies on Earth.
The Sea, the only true element that brings us closer to our deepest, truest part..it is a message of respect towards our primordial liquid, the container of all our dreams, the Sea is more and more slaughtered and despoiled by the hand of man, who day after day tries to make it his personal thing; it is awareness raising on the importance of the Water element.”

 📍 Liceo classico Beccaria, Milan

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

“Change is about caring for the planet that hosts us and the creatures that live on it. It is the very young who can and should make a difference by embracing what has been neglected for too long.”

 📍 Sede di Sky Italia, Via Russolo, Milan

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

“The sea, once it has cast its spell, holds us forever in its net of wonder.”

 📍 Via Sammartini 49, Milan

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

“The oceans provide us with the air we breathe; they are our precious fortress. Let us protect them as they protect us.”

 📍 Viale delle Nazioni 2/4, Marina di Ravenna (RA)

As part of 30×30 Italia, the “Ocean & Climate” project was born, with the aim of raising awareness of the deep connection between ocean preservation and the fight against climate change. We brought the sea to the city by making 10 marine-themed murals with eco-friendly paints in different Italian cities.

“I fear for the balance of the Earth’s ecosystem and want to hope and wish you that our efforts to protect the ocean can leave a meaningful footprint for future generations.”

📍 Piazzale Alioto, Patti (ME)
🌳 50 m² of equivalent forest 

S.e.a Lovers, an environmental movement born in the municipalities of Patti and Gioiosa Marea (ME), creates a large mural placed on four wooden cottages, freeing them from the degradation in which they were lying and giving them back their value.
The work depicted “In a Sea of Plastic” was born from the need to want to convey to the citizenry one of the most widespread forms of pollution in the sea, namely that from plastics. In fact, what is depicted is a seabed filled with garbage that seems to leave no escape for the marine fauna, which on the contrary seems to be engaged in the role of cleaning it of all the impurities abandoned by careless humans.
The message we wanted to send is that one is never too big or too small to make a difference and that, even from the sea, unexpected help can come. To do this, we focused on not making the message complex and on using a “cartoon” style to make it understandable to everyone.
Supporters of the work are the Municipality of Patti (ME), which provided us with the ecological paints we chose, and Worldrise, which from the very beginning gave us the right directions for the success of the work.

📍 Via Zanoia, Milan
🌳 80 m² of equivalent forest 

Nine students from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts were selected to fresco the wall panels of the No’hma Theater Space on Via Zanoia in Milan, Italy, on the occasion of the presentation event of the Decade of the Sea in Italy.
The winners: Brazzi-Morino, De Luca-Bonora, Leonardo Gambini, Chiara Melluso, Moscheo-De Andreis-Hult, Righini-Battaglia, Cerrone-Fotia, Chiara Colaci, Matteo Casentini.
We thank the jury, composed of: Livia Pomodoro, Angela Casiraghi and Clizia Gurrado (Teatro No’hma), Anne de Carbuccia Artist (One Planet One Future), Mariasole Bianco (Worldrise), Maria Cristina Galli and Dany Vescovi (Accademia delle Belle Arti di Brera).
Special thanks, then, go to the No’hma Theater, which chose not only to host the Oct. 22 event at its venue on Via Orcagna, but also to preserve a symbol of our shared commitment to ocean conservation.
Thanks are also extended to Liquitex Artist Materials and Airlite. Together to create the ocean we need for the future we want!

 📍 Piazza Caduti 6 luglio 1944, Dalmine (BG)

As part of the project “Pota. Less plastic is more environment” promoted by Agenda 21 island bergamasca Dalmine and Zingonia, in November 2021 young people from the territorial service for the disabled ‘La Bussola’ and the ‘Youth and Territory’ service created two environmentally themed murals in the Piazza Caduti del 6 luglio 1944.
A first initiative to communicate and support the efforts of some restaurants related to the introduction of reusable and the elimination of single-use. The project funded by fondazione Cariplo has Worldrise among its partners.
The artistic interventions are made with catalytic smog-absorbing and water-based paints, for a painted surface of 16 sq. m.

 📍 Istituto Comprensivo Antonio Scarpa, Clericetti school, Milan

Mural on the theme of marine pollution due to plastic, created by artist Elisabetta Mastro, based on the drawings of 60 children from Milan’s Clericetti Primary School.
The #Batti5 project, dedicated to raising awareness among the younger generation by creating an educational path combining creativity and environmental education, involved students from all classes IV of Milan’s Clericetti Primary School between May and November 2021.
More than 60 children attended lectures by Worldrise biologists and outreach workers, learning about how wonderful and vulnerable there is in the sea and discussing what can be done to contribute to the positive change we want to see in the planet.
Accompanied by art therapist Camilla Mele, the students made drawings and paintings that became cues, creative ideas that artist Elisabetta Mastro reworked by creating a mural of more than 50 square meters on the entrance wall of IC Scarpa in Milan, Clericetti School.