• The Greek artist Fikos signs a giant fresco at the foot of the Saint-Charles stairs in Marseille.

  • This work, which echoes the World Conservation Congress, is the first in France, along with another in Anglet, to participate in the Audubon Walls project.

  • This ecological and artistic movement was born in Harlem.

    It consists of painting on the walls of cities frescoes representing birds threatened by climate change.

She appeared at the foot of the famous stairs of Saint-Charles station in Marseille, while the city was hosting the World Conservation Congress, which closes this Saturday. A huge mural representing birds, as a call to continue the fight in favor of biodiversity. "The idea is to inscribe a strong symbol and a memory of this congress," explains Lauranne Germond, director and co-founder in Paris of COAL, a project which combines art and ecology. It is also the start in France of the movement of the walls of Audubon ”.

Born in Harlem, this movement consists in painting, on the walls of cities, frescoes representing birds threatened by climate change.

“They represent nature in what it is marvelous and beautiful.

The movement had a strong impact in the United States when Trump withdrew from the climate agreements, ”continues Lauranne Germond.

In New York but also in other American cities, we have seen hundreds of frescoes of birds, on walls and storefronts.

#WorkinProgress - An XXL work at Saint Charles station by the artist @FikosAntonios 🕊️ Art Climate Transition, COAL and Planète Emergences present a fresco committed to welcome the #congresmondialdelanature of @UICNfrance #audubonmuralproject #magiciensdelaville pic.twitter.com/Cj4nyXjsi

- Planète Emergences (@PEmergences) September 2, 2021

“ 

The birds of America

are an extraordinary thing!

"

"Like the whale for mammals, the bird is a good vector for making people aware of the beauty of things, of nature, and making them want to protect it", testifies Philippe de Grissac, vice-president of the LPO and inexhaustible on Jean-Jacques Audubon.

This famous 19th century French-American ornithologist and naturalist gave his name to the “National Audubon Society”, the American counterpart of the LPO.

“He was the first to paint life-size birds and in their environment,” he says.

His book

The Birds of America

is an extraordinary thing, even more expensive than Gutenberg's bible!

".

The frescoes will thus draw on this pool of images and inspiration.

Marseille is no exception, and Philippe de Grissac recognized American birds such as the “mountain mockingbird” and “the American nutcracker”, both on the right of the mural, as Mediterranean birds: the “ wheatear ", a black and white passerine that lives in rocky hills, the" hoopoe "(recognizable by its tuft and its long, curved beak) or the" blue mound ", which climbs quite high in the mountains but s' can also be seen in Corsica by the sea.

The birds, the city, the Calanques

To imagine and paint this mural, COAL called on the Greek artist Fikos. For two weeks, he operated on a gondola, like an artist in front of his canvas in his studio. With a palette of shades of brown, beige, gray and bluish. "He is someone who practices soft tones, who is very interested in Byzantine techniques," explains Lauranne Germond, who at the same time inaugurated an Audubon fresco in Anglet and has set herself the goal of bringing out a hundred of them. 'others in France.

"I like this idea of ​​arriving in Marseille, of being both in a very urban landscape, and of having a view of the Calanques in the background", smiles Caroline Seguier, director of Planète Emergences, who supported the project in Marseille.

It had been a long time since she had spotted the wall at the bottom of the Saint-Charles stairs, one among others to “re-enchant the public space by reaching out to as many people as possible”.

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  • Biodiversity

  • Marseilles

  • Art

  • Street art

  • Nature

  • Bird