Purpleman sets out on second Syrian Toy Mission for ten days of Christmas after exhibition launch

He will be away for ten days and last night he marked his farewell with a party to launch Postcards From Syria, an exhibition at Pyramid Gallery that features postcard prints of pictures drawn by Syrian children, who have left their homeland to live near the border on the Turkish side in camps and villages.

"While preparing the online fundraising campaign for Purpleman's next toy mission to the 'Syrian area', war children and orphans sent me amazing paintings and drawings," he says. "There are more than 70 moving, uplifting and disturbing reflections of their hearts and minds, which I've decided to hang on pegs like a washing line with a message on each peg."

Purpleman assembled the exhibition by liaising with his Syrian contact, Aladdin, who works for CARE, a non-governmental American organisation close to the Syrian border. "I was introduced to him through Pyramid owner Terry Brett's daughter, whose friends have worked with Aladdin, and we've been friends ever since. He's my host and bodyguard over there," he says.

"So I asked if he could send pictures by the children of what they were thinking about; what their hopes for the future were; the difference between their life before and their life now."

One of the drawings by Syrian children, depicting differing expectations

Weapons of war are prominent in several of the pictures. "There's one that shows a boy in Europe with his arms in the air expecting a gift, while a Syrian boy has his arms in the air, expecting a bomb," says Purpleman. "There's another where women, as well as men, are pointing guns at each other.

"All of the children have lost members of their family and have been witness to the horrors in Syria, and guns are everywhere in their minds, but there's still optimism in some of the pictures."

What would children in Britain paint by comparison? "They would draw what they wanted for Christmas, maybe a theme park they wanted to go to," says Purpleman. "There would be very few images of war, though even in this country children are exposed such images more than they used to be, and the violence in computer games must have an effect too."

The Syrian children who have created the pictures are aged seven to 15. "If they grow up with these images as a child, what are they going to behave like as adults, because if all they know is war, their first thought will be war. If their thoughts are negative, negative results will follow," says Purpleman.

"Which is why Purpleman taking a purple van there with soft toys is like a weapon without bullets; last time I went, as soon as they saw the joy brought about by the soft toys, those carrying weapons dropped them. When someone turns up dressed in purple with a teddy bear and toys, there's something positive to associate with. No language is required. No politics is required."

The children's pictures at the Postcards From Syria exhibition are limited to print editions of 150. All donations for acquiring these pictures will go towards buying toys for the children, under the indiegogo.com/projects/ scheme to gather as many as 1,000 toys for 1,000 children by Christmas by raising £15,000.

A picture by a Syrian child from the camp in Turkey

Purpleman's next aim will be to create a Purple school with the goal of opening by next March. "We already have people interested in teaching there, including interest from art teachers, because art doesn't require language" he says.

Purpleman will spend ten days of Christmas on the Syrian/Turkish border with the children. "I'll be hosting a Christmas Day party dressed as Purple Santa, because Father Christmas crosses the political and religious divide, but I won't be having a bushy beard as it's difficult to apply make-up to a beard," he says.

"Going out there just feels the right thing to do. Hopefully the priority for everyone at Christmas is to give the love out, but I say love should be for 365 days a year, not just for Christmas."

Once he returns, Purpleman will not resume his pitch on Stonegate, where he has been such a familiar sight on his stationary bike, coat flowing in the wind as he pedals without moving against the tide of shoppers and tourists.

Purpleman's meeting of minds with Gandhi

"Purpleman re-appeared on Stonegate last weekend for the final time on the bike. The end. Fin," he says, after riding off into the Purple sunset and homewards to his house in Bootham with the purple door.

"I hadn't been in Stonegate for three months and I miss the love when I'm not there but I've finally decided that my future lies beyond the purple brick road."

He will turn his attention to doing more for the Syrian children . "I'll be bringing their original pictures back from Turkey to sell to raise more funds, and I want the children to create more pictures because art is therapeutic and it's important to release their feelings," he says. "I think my focus will now be on charitable work and the objective will be to spread it to other places as there are conflicts all over the world."