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Friday, March 29, 2024

Kobe Bryant honored in Bosnia with giant mural on school wall

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Kobe Bryant honored in Bosnia with giant mural on school wall
Kobe Bryant honored in Bosnia with giant mural on school wall

Massive Kobe Bryant mural unveiled at an elementary school in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

VIDEO SHOWS: ARTIST PAINTING MURAL OF KOBE BRYANT ON A WALL AT A SCHOOL / SOUNDBITES FROM ARTIST DENI BOZIC WHO PAINTED MURAL / SOUNDBITE FROM FORMER BASKETBALL PLAYER IGOR DAMJANOVIC ON HOW IDEA FOR MURAL CAME ABOUT / SCHOOL CHILDREN PLAYING NEAR THE MURAL SHOWS: GRADISKA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (JUNE 8, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.

VARIOUS OF ARTIST, DENI BOZIC, PAINTING MURAL OF KOBE BRYANT ON WALL OF SCHOOL 2.

BOZIC PUTTING BRUSH IN POT OF PAINT, SEEN FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW 3.

BOZIC PAINTING MURAL, SEEN FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW 4.

(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) ARTIST, DENI BOZIC, SAYING: "The inspiration is not mine, but it was my pleasure to work on it.

I think the motive is great and I think Kobe was a basketball legend and athlete who certainly deserves something like this - the recognition in the form of a picture on the wall - a mural, a modern monument of the 21st century." 5.

PILE OF WOOD NEXT TO MURAL, CHILDREN PLAYING IN BASKETBALL COURT 6.

BOZIC WALKING BY BUILDING CARRYING BUCKET 7.

BOZIC SETTING UP LADDER BY WALL 8.

BOZIC CLIMBING LADDER, SEEN FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW 9.

BOZIC REACHING TOP OF LADDER AND STARTING TO PAINT 10.

(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) ARTIST, DENI BOZIC, SAYING: "I worked 6-7 hours a day, it was a big challenge because it's a big wall." 11.

FORMER BASKETBALL PLAYER WHO ORGANISED MURAL, IGOR DAMJANOVIC, WALKING BY MURAL 12.

(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) FORMER BASKETBALL PLAYER, IGOR DAMJANOVIC, SAYING: "The inspiration came to us because of someone who used to live in our city, former NBA basketball player Ratko Varda, who played for Washington (the Washington Wizards) together with Michael Jordan, a basketball icon, and Kobe Bryant was often compared to them." 13.

VARIOUS OF BOZIC PAINTING MURAL 14.

(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) FORMER BASKETBALL PLAYER, IGOR DAMJANOVIC, SAYING: "This mural is perhaps a monument for this city where basketball has been played for the last 30-40 years." 15.

VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING ON BASKETBALL COURT 16.

CHILD RUNNING TO JOIN OTHER CHILDREN 17.

(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) FORMER BASKETBALL PLAYER, IGOR DAMJANOVIC, SAYING: "Kobe was first and foremost my basketball idol, as well as my friends'.

We came up with the idea to paint a mural.

The idea came up in February, and we planned to finish it earlier, but the situation with COVID-19 delayed us, so we only finished it 2-3 days ago." 18.

VARIOUS OF BOZIC PAINTING MURAL 19.

(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) FORMER BASKETBALL PLAYER, IGOR DAMJANOVIC, SAYING: "This mural of Kobe Bryant is unofficially the only one in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and unofficially the largest (of Kobe Bryant) in Europe.

It is made on a wall of 72 square metres (775 sq feet), and there are only eight murals in Europe." 20.

MURAL 21.

BASKETBALL ON MURAL 22.

KOBE BRYANT'S FACE ON MURAL STORY: Kobe Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who died in a helicopter crash in January, has been honoured with a giant mural commissioned by sports enthusiasts and painted on the side of an elementary school building in northern Bosnia.

Artist Deni Bozic said Kobe was a basketball legend and athlete who deserved to be immortalised in the form of the the 39-foot (12 metre) wide, 19-foot (6 metre) tall artwork in the town of Gradiska.

The initiative for the tribute to Bryant, a five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers who won Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012, came from a group of local basketball players.

Igor Damjanovic, one of those who came up with the idea in February, said he and his friends regarded Bryant as an idol and the mural would have been finished earlier if the global novel coronavirus pandemic had not struck.

Damjanovic said the mural was "unofficially" the only one dedicated to Bryant in Bosnia and possibly the largest of its kind in Europe.

Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles on January 26 along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.

According to the website kobemural.com, which tracks street art of Bryant, there are more than 200 murals dedicated to him worldwide, mostly in southern California.

(Production: Dado Ruvic, Lewis Macdonald)

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