Mural portrait by renowned artist vandalized in Istanbul

Unknown assailants have vandalized a mural portrait painted on the façade of a ruined building in the Fatih district of Istanbul.

A portrait of an old man, painted by the renowned French photographer and street artist JR as a part of his "Wrinkles of the City" project, has been painted over while two other murals have been left untouched. The award-winning artist shared the vandalized images of his mural via his Twitter account. The before and after images of the vandalized mural have immediately drawn attraction on social media. The portrait was found to be vandalized about 20 days ago.

It has also been alleged on social media that the municipal police of Fatih Municipality vandalized the old man mural. However, the municipality refuted the claims in a statement shared on its official Twitter account. 

"We want you to know that we were saddened by the incident more than you. 'Wrinkles of the City' project has been realized by the joint work of the world-renowned graffiti artist JR and the Fatih Municipality. An intervention against such a beautiful project from our side is out of question," the municipality said.

The municipality is scheduled to make another statement on June 19.

JR has previously carried projects out in Los Angeles, Cartagena, Shanghai, La Havana and Berlin. Last month, he visited Istanbul and painted mural portraits of elderly living nearby.