People began showing up around the alleyway next to a Washington, D.C. pub in the city's affluent Georgetown neighborhood to witness the posting of images of people that many believe are wrongly detained in Russia.
The mural's concept includes images of 18 people, including American WNBA star Brittney Griner, and another U.S. citizen named Paul Whelan.
Some of the images are enlargements of photos provided by family members who say they are the last images they have of their loved ones.
Neda Shargi, whose brother Emad Shargi is included in the mural, was quoted in the Washingtonianas saying, “It’s a campaign of families that have basically found each other and come together to help one another, get through this, and also to advocate for the release of our loved ones, and advocate the administration to not forget them and to bring them home.”
The mural's idea and design were conceived by an artist from Iowa called Isaac Campbell, who went with a black and white color scheme. He will be helping families and people who pass by with cutting and pasting the photos to the wall using a non-toxic adhesive made of flour, water and sugar, which creates a biodegradable glue.
Sharghi told the Washingtonian, “Time is something that’s really always on our mind. I constantly keep a tally of how long my brother has been gone, when the last birthday he was able to attend was. So the fact that time is so much a part of the mural is remarkable,” she said. “And we hope that our loved ones will come home before this mural fades away.”