• A giant fresco was made by Mahn Kloix, rue Félix Pyat, in the 3rd arrondissement of Marseille, one of the poorest in the city.

  • It represents Tursunay Ziawudun, a Uyghur who testified to her ordeal lived in one of the Chinese "camps".

  • This fresco is the starting point of an ambitious urban art journey which will ultimately consist of around a hundred works.

“It's beautiful, already. And I would say that this lady is surprised or that something shocked her ”, tries to guess Sofiane, 21, while passing in front of the giant fresco carried out by Mahn Kloix, rue Félix Pyat, in the 3rd arrondissement of Marseille, l one of the poorest in the city. Adding: "she may be a gypsy, or a Romanian, given the light veil she wears".

This face is that of Tursunay Ziawudun, a Uyghur who testified to her ordeal lived in one of the Chinese "camps". Forcibly interned, raped several times, she embodies the repression suffered by this Muslim minority in western China. Repression denounced by NGOs - Amnesty International refers to "crimes against humanity" - where China prefers to speak of "vocational training center". And too bad, if Sofiane, like all the other inhabitants of this district met that day, did not guess everything. “I just put his name. Afterwards, people inquire if they wish, but a work must also speak for itself, ”says Mahn Kloix, the artist who made it, satisfied that the emotion has passed.

“I discovered the story of Tursunay Ziawudun while watching a BBC documentary,” he continues.

“I wanted to do a work for people who are discriminated against.

I am very attached to individual freedoms, religious or sexual orientation, for example, ”explains the 40-year-old artist who lives in Marseille.

"I follow the news a lot, and if some people summarize me as artistic activism, I only echo the world around us".

"Bring new life to these neighborhoods, beyond the renovation work"

This fresco is the starting point of an ambitious urban art journey which will eventually consist of around a hundred works. Supported by the Méta 2 association, this project called Mauma (for the Urban Art Museum of Marseille) and initiated in early 2020, intends to be deployed in the public space of the 2nd, 3rd, 14th and 15th arrondissements of the city. And not only in fresco, sculptures and urban developments carried out in partnership with local populations are planned.

"We want to breathe new life into these neighborhoods, beyond the renovation work on the land," explains Aurélie Masset, director of Meta 2 and herself an artist.

“To create this project, I was inspired by what has already been done elsewhere, such as in Medellin”, where a “street art” route contributes to changing the image of the city.

The idea is to make a route in each district targeted, and that they are connected to each other by public transport.

The development of transport, a topical subject in Marseille.

“If we can contribute…”, slips Aurélie Masset, whose next projects should see the light of day in 2022.

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  • China

  • Uighurs

  • Marseilles

  • Culture