Nintendo’s Pokemon Go game for mobile devices has been sweeping the world for days. Players are given the mission of finding and catching Pokemon in public and at home, with some users spending hours walking by foot to collect Pokemon while sharing their pictures in cities across the world on social media.
One Syrian artist has taken advantage of the global preoccupation with the game, featuring Pokemon in his designs alongside the tragic life Syrians are living, amid military operations and continuous bombardment, in an attempt to draw attention to a country where 9 million people have been forced to flee their homes and where cities have been obliterated by Assad’s regime, Russia, and allied militias, especially those backed by Iran.
Artist Mohamed Youssef told Al-Souria Net on Sunday that his work was intended as “a message to an obsessed world. Anyone who has not heard the call for dignity and has not supported it by moving a single stone, let them be kind to the Pokemon. Really, hunting them is fun and exciting.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
