Artists Worldwide Mourn the Loss of Drowned Syrian Boy

Once again, out of great grief and senseless tragedy, comes beautiful art.

When a boat carrying Syrian refugees to Canada capsized on Wednesday, three-year-old Aylan Kurdi and his five-year-old brother, Galip, drowned and were photographed face down in the surf. These images brought the horror of the present European migrant crisis into an unbearably sharp focus. When words failed, artists around the world united in an attempt to channel the grief through art.

"We are losing ourselves as humans,and the people will die around the borders." #SyrianRefugees #DrownedSyrianBoy pic.twitter.com/WCpsMiksRV

— Azzam Daaboul (@AzzamDaaboul) September 3, 2015

Hell is the reality we living in.. #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik pic.twitter.com/73wblRdkd8

— Khaled Yeslam | خالد (@kyeslam) September 3, 2015

Posted by Mahnaz yazdani on Wednesday, 2 September 2015

We put him to sleep, and it's about time for us to wake up #HumanityWashedAshore pic.twitter.com/8LFf7tRy9V

— Ghalia Al Twal (@theghaliatwal) September 3, 2015

The #Syria -n Child on Turkey's shores emerging as a symbol for crisis. Photo via @AdiKhair : pic.twitter.com/MqDpluH30q

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) September 2, 2015

#Khartoon - I Hope Humanity Finds a Cure for Visas #Syria #refugeeswelcome #refugeecrisis #Germany #Italy #Greece pic.twitter.com/zbyGMSrIsO

— ALBAIH (@khalidalbaih) September 2, 2015

Thinking about that poor boy washed up in Turkey #humanitywashedashore #refugee #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik #instapoem #instapoetry #igpoetry #igpoem #shortpoem #poetry #poem #poet #doodle #drawing #illustration #illustrator #instaart #sketchbook #copic #ink #penandink #poetryisnotdead #sketch #wordporn #poetrycommunity #comics #poetsofinstagram #moleskine #writersofinstagram #vsco

A photo posted by Tristan Fitzgerald (@mystictris) on Sep 2, 2015 at 9:48pm PDT

How his story should have ended... #SyrianRefugees #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik pic.twitter.com/nXgpV7tZWr

— Steve Dennis (@SteveDennis71) September 3, 2015

Kiyametin gerekçesini çizebilir misin Abidin #KiyiyaVuranİnsanlik pic.twitter.com/taQ2JtJ4nW

— Serhat Özdili (@sozdili) September 2, 2015

#DrownedSyrianBoy. #Syria have enough to count his death. pic.twitter.com/kXcQY7hyHa

— HOPE SAROUT☆☆☆ (@HopeSarout) September 2, 2015

Here’s more on this tragedy.