Seattle Mural Honors Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, UW Graduate Killed by Israeli Forces

A community mural honoring the Seattle-raised human rights activist and University of Washington graduate is taking shape at Cherry Street Village, nearly two years after Eygi was shot and killed by Israeli forces while participating in a protest against Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

The mural was designed by artist James Hesketh “in the colors and spirit of who she was,” according to the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice. Eygi’s family and friends invited community members to participate in painting the mural around what would have been her 28th birthday in July.

But this mural represents far more than one moment in Seattle.

A Seattle Life Dedicated to Justice

Eygi was born in Turkey and raised in Seattle.

She attended West Seattle High School, studied at Seattle Central College and graduated from the University of Washington in June 2024 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.

Her activism stretched across causes and communities.

Washington lawmakers noted in a 2025 joint memorial that Eygi supported immigrant and refugee communities, advocated for Palestinian students and families at UW, worked with children on the autism spectrum and helped organize a Seattle art market that raised more than $47,000 for medical aid in Gaza.

Friends remembered someone who didn't simply talk about injustice.

She showed up.

That commitment eventually brought her to the occupied West Bank with the International Solidarity Movement, where she joined Palestinians and other activists protesting Israeli settlement expansion.

Killed in the West Bank

On September 6, 2024, Eygi was shot in the head during a demonstration near Beita in the occupied West Bank.

She was 26 years old.

Israel later acknowledged that its forces likely fired the shot that killed her, while saying the shooting was unintentional.

Eygi's family disputed that account and called for an independent U.S. investigation.

Then-President Joe Biden called her killing “unacceptable” and demanded accountability. Washington Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Pramila Jayapal also called for an independent American investigation into her death.

Nearly two years later, questions about accountability remain.

Seattle Remembers

Eygi's death hit Seattle particularly hard because this wasn't simply the death of an American abroad.

She was part of this community.

She went to school here. She organized here. She spent time at Lincoln Park and celebrated her 26th birthday with friends at Alki Beach shortly before leaving for the West Bank.

After she was killed, hundreds returned to Alki for a vigil.

Now her face and memory will become part of Seattle itself.

There is something powerful about that.

A mural cannot deliver the investigation Eygi's family has demanded. It cannot answer every question surrounding her killing. It cannot undo what happened beneath an olive tree thousands of miles from Seattle.

But public memory matters.

Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi traveled across the world because she believed witnessing injustice carried a responsibility to act.

Seattle is now being given another place to remember her life, her activism and the causes she believed were worth fighting for.

And maybe that's the most fitting memorial possible:

Not simply remembering how Ayşenur died, but remembering what she lived for.