Kindness can mean different things to different people: from being helpful and showing empathy to doing nice things without expecting anything in return. It's so much more than just being nice. Kindness is true love in its purest form. It's a beautiful wave that keeps rolling and all it needs is just one person acting with intention.
Being kind is doing intentional, voluntary acts and not only when it’s easy to be kind, but rather when it’s truly hard to be. Street artist Greg Goya from Italy is making one of those waves that causes a ripple effect and impacts an entire community. He is spreading love, hope and kindness all over the streets with his interactive art that is bringing out people's deepest emotions.
More info: Greg Goya
Young Italian street artist Greg Goya is making the world a kinder place through his interactive art
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
Greg Goya is a 26-year-old Italian street artist based in Turin. His first performance was called 'Kiss Stop' and was designed for TikTok. Greg drew a heart in Murazzi, an urban area in the heart of Turin, with an appealing message inside: 'Kiss here'. The artist watched and filmed the kisses by himself, published everything online and got a million views in no time. The highly impactful work was not only beautiful in person, but also online, therefore instantly gave Greg incredible determination to continue making ripples of kindness.
By August 2023, Greg already had 95,000 followers on Instagram and 100,000 followers on TikTok. His genuine small acts of kindness swept across people's hearts all around the world and at the moment, the Italian street artist already has over 1 million people following him on Instagram and almost 250 thousand people seeing his art journey on TikTok.
"My art is called 'Fast Art'. I call it 'fast' because it immediately creates an emotion in the viewer. In front of 'fast art' works, people kiss, cry, love and laugh. This is the purpose of my art: to bring out people's deepest emotions," shared Goya.
Goya's artworks are so impactful that they are creating waves of kindness all around the world
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
"It was 4 in the morning when you said 'goodbye' and I didn’t have enough eyes to cry all the tears streaming down my face. So I painted a hundred eyes on this canvas and each one of them still cries for you. You're in all my tears," reads the text written next to one of Goya's artworks called 'You’re in all my tears', exhibited for one week at Mole Antonelliana.
"What did you cry for the last time?" asked the artist on his huge canvas with 100 crying eyes. Thousands of people shared their hurtful moments, not only writing them directly on the artwork, but also in the comments on social media.
"After receiving insults on social media”, “Never feeling good enough”, “My dad”, “That damn pollen allergy", "Not being able to help my daughter fight anxiety and school withdrawal", "On April 17th I had a miscarriage, I am writing this with a fake profile because it is such a pain that I don’t want people who know me to know. I never stopped crying since that day", "The children of Gaza" - people from all around the world opened up their wounds, and suddenly, for a moment, they felt a bit less lonely and more connected with each other.
The main purpose of Goya's art is to bring out people's deepest emotions
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
"I like to explore human emotions and transmit them through my art," said Goya, who often talks about love in all of its forms.
One of his artworks was a huge red box called 'free love letters'. In the shared video, hundreds of people can be seen passing by and taking heartwarming letters.
"Knows how to love only those who notice your details", "All the times I feel happy I find that in all those times there is you", "I know only one way to measure time: with you or without you", "I hope we always find a way back to each other", "I would have bet on us living a lifetime together", read the letters, which instantly brought so much joy and put huge smiles on people's faces.
"In case of love at first sight, break the glass," was written on another artwork of Goya with a beautiful flower bouquet in the glass box.
"Love is so amazing in every way. Fantastic idea," shared one of the street artist's followers next to the video. "Thank you!!! I'm going through a rough time right now, but you made my day!! The world needs more love, thank you, and keep going," wrote another follower on Instagram about this genuine gesture.
"Who makes you believe in love?" asked the Italian street artist in the middle of the red hand-painted heart on a white square board, inviting people to leave their comments there.
“God”, “My grandparents”, “The ones who give their love freely, openly, bravely, unconditionally, over & over”, “Sunsets over the sea”, “A random stranger who smiles at me” - thousands of messages from people flooded the board.
The Italian street artist often talks about love in all of its forms and always invites people to interact with his artworks in an unexpected, playful way
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
Besides love-related themes, Goya also also likes to interact with people in a playful way. One such example could be his work called "my childhood" in which the artist drew a hopscotch board right in the area before people are entering the metro.
People were happily interacting with their childhood game. In the video he shared, everyone from youngest to oldest can be seen happily jumping from square to square before finally entering the metro.
"The road is lava," Goya wrote on one of the white lines of a crosswalk in Turin and people can be seen full of excitement, jumping from one white line to the other all the way to the other side of the street.
"Love your work. It cheers you up, puts a smile on your face and brightens your day for a few moments. That's something," shared one of the street artist's followers on social media. "Costs nothing to let our inner child bloom," wrote another.
Goya is showing how a tiny act of kindness can have an impact on millions of people around the globe
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
Image credits: @greg_goya
From hanging a huge punching bag in the middle of the city with an inviting message on it 'let your anger out' to a clock asking 'when is the right moment?' with every hour replaced with the word 'now', Goya is creating a dialog through empathy and love.
He beautifully shows that a tiny wave of kindness created by a young artist in Turin, Italy can become an entire ocean of love connecting people all around the globe.
People on the internet felt grateful for all the love and kindness that Greg Goya shared through his artworks
