The Walki print is an immediately touching portrait by Swoon of a boy named Walki who lives in the village of Bigones and spent time with the Konbit Shelter team at the community center building site this last summer. The print is made of a three-layer screenprint on handmade Indian jute paper measuring 13" x 21" and is limited at an edition of 300 - all proceeds from the sale will go towards support of the Konbit Shelter Project.

The print will only be on sale for a limited time until January 1st and is priced affordably at $125 so that as many people as possible can be involved with this unique project. The print is available exclusively here.

The Konbit Shelter Project was created with the idea that a group of artists, engineers, architects and builders could pool their individual knowledge, resources and time to make a lasting difference in post-earthquake Haiti. Konbit Shelter is a rebuilding initiative, which uses dome-style structures and the super-adobe technique of earth bag architecture to create sustainable, inexpensive and dependable housing for the people of Haiti. While the structures are extremely resistant to natural disasters, they also have the major benefit of being comprised of 90% earth and requiring no specialized scaffolding and understructure to build - making it a viable option for the people of Haiti to continue building on their own once they learn the method.

At the center of this project has been NYC-based Swoon, whose intricate wheatpastes and paper-cutouts have been seen on the walls of countless cities and galleries. While humanitarian architecture and street-based art that Swoon is known for appear to be vastly different mediums, the concepts behind them remain the same to her: "To bring things of beauty to people where they are, where they need it. To turn up where you are not expected to be, and to make everything out of love."

During the summer of 2010, the team behind The Konbit Shelter Project traveled to the village of Bigones, Haiti with the goal of educating and employing the local residents while constructing a community center using this technique. Now, the team will be returning again on December 21st to begin construction on single family homes, and the sale of Swoon's Walki print will immediately go towards funding the construction of these homes.

The efforts of the individuals involved in The Konbit Shelter Project are an amazing example of people doing everything in their power to give back. While we who make up the general public don't always have the time and resources to do incredible things like this on our own, it's important that we support those who take it upon themselves to do what we can not - which is the idea behind the sale of Swoon's Walki print.

to purchase the print: shop.upperplayground.com/p/SWOON-WALKI-PRINT-KONBIT-SHELTER-PROJECT/UP40610PT

very nice, says 3 colour print so might be some nice detail were not seeing on screen. Also I'm a sucker for hand made paper. Lovely job.

Signed and numbered?

+1 ;D

i love prints for charity! it's the best of both worlds!

am curious if it's signed and numbered too (not that it stopped me from buying). can't wait to see the handmade paper.

i just emailed them too to find out. what a steal!

their website says free shipping for international order over $125 - so this should apply - but i paid for fedex shipping. i replied to the email confirming the order about it. we'll see what comes back.

Well, it seems like they do not ship to Germany...

Major bummer!!!

If you need one overseas email me and I'll see what I can do.

I like this print more and more as I look at it.

Swoons print this year seem to be picking her up a good few votes in the Urban Art Awards so far Joint 4th place at the moment with José Parla.

Urban Art North America - urbanartassociation.com/index.cgi?board=urbanartawards&action=display&thread=62522

photos???

mine's shipped already but it'll take a while i'm sure to get to Canada. can't wait to see it.

it appears they shipped it with USPS and didn't charge me for shipping either. i never did hear back on the free shipping email i sent them - only noticed the website changed to say it does not apply for free shipping.

hmmm interesting! wasn't expecting so much border on it - it'll be interesting how to frame it. looks good though!

thanks for posting it.

I would def trim that down a bit if I was gonna frame it.

Although the border is huge I would recommend caution re trimming it down as this is how the artist has intended the print to look. I personally would not buy a trimmed print, not saying your ever going to sell it, but....

awesome, that explains the 3 colours. Looks brilliant - just wondering if they are all the same length or have been cut from a roll.

Don't think I will be trimming mine but if you are why not paste it onto some reclaimed wood - go the whole hog!