I think airport walls have witnessed more lovers’ kisses than almost any other place. People who see each other again after a long time, and before they even have a chance to say anything, embrace each other. People who are about to be apart for a while and spend their last moments together with a kiss and a long hug. Airports are full of these moments. Someone runs excitedly towards a person they’ve been waiting to see for so long. Someone tries to hold back their tears so the goodbye won’t feel harder than it already is. Someone smiles, someone cries, and someone else might not even know how to deal with the moment they’re experiencing. I’ve always found it fascinating how one place can hold so many different emotions. Someone is experiencing one of the most romantic moments of their life, while just a few meters away, someone else is saying goodbye to a person they might not see again for a long time. Maybe two people are separating for a short trip, while two others have no idea when they’ll see each other again. Some people say goodbye with the hope of meeting again, while others can only hope that everything will be okay. I often wonder what stories airport walls would tell if they could speak. How many love stories have they witnessed? How many long embraces? How many last kisses? How many people have cried with happiness when they saw each other again? And how many have stood there for a long time after someone they loved left, looking at a place where that person was no longer standing? Maybe nobody pays attention to the people around them, but in those moments, we’re all part of something bigger. People coming from different stories, each heading towards another one. To me, an airport is more than just a place where people come and go. It’s a place where you can clearly see how full of beginnings and endings life is. How deeply connected people are to one another, and how much a simple embrace can mean to someone. Maybe airport walls know better than anywhere else how close love, longing, and goodbye really are. ⸻ About the Artwork & Creation Process The original photograph for this artwork was taken by Nastaran Najafi at Istanbul Airport, Turkey. The figures were painted by Nastaran Taghdimi using the Japanese Sumi-e painting technique. The overall composition was created by Nastaran Najafi, and the GIF animation was generated with AI. Artists: Nastaran Najafi & Nastaran Taghdimi Photography: Nastaran Najafi Painting: Nastaran Taghdimi — Sumi-e technique Composition: Nastaran Najafi GIF Animation: AI-generated Format: GIF Dimensions: 1536 × 1024 pixels