Why Caretta Caretta Mural?
With this mural of the Caretta Caretta – turtle ready to explode, we want to raise awareness about the habitat fragmentation that’s risking the lives of these beautiful marine animals. The ever increasing human activity on the Greek coastline disrupts the turtles nesting at the beaches and when the baby turtles hatch, they get confused with the electrical lights and don’t find their way to the sea. The grenade in this mural represents the constant danger inflicted on these wild animals. They always lay their eggs on the beaches they were born so it’s hard for them to adapt to any changes. The fragments of their habitats get smaller and more dispersed as represented by the triangles in the mural. During the week long painting process at the Castro, an adult Caretta Caretta turtle was found dead on the beach there. This mural is dedicated to that turtles memory. On the other hand, our mural crew also had the pleasure to help some recently born turtles to find their way to the sea by showing the way with flashlights. It was a very emotional and inspiring experience. It shows that it’s not impossible for humans to co-exist with wildlife, it only takes some consideration and willingness to do less harm; sometimes we can even help a bit.
