Toulouse: in Bellefontaine, the Mesdames fresco gives height to women
On one of the facades of the Residence Le Tintoret, Bellefontaine district (30 route le Tintoret), the artists Maye and Mondé have created a new artistic fresco. Its goal: to promote the place of women in the public space.
After a first large-scale work, produced in 2020, by the Lot duo Sismikazot, entitled “La Tête haute”, a second mural fresco has just seen the light of day in Bellefontaine, 30 cheminement le Tintoret. This time, it is signed by a duo of graffiti artists composed of the Toulousain Mondé and the Montpellier Maye.
26 meters high, 15 wide, this huge mural is a mixture of lettering and drawings. “On an inscription the word ladies in purple. Between the letters, we see a woman holding a planet with birds flying around,” explains the graffiti artist from Toulouse.
Longtime friends, Mondé and Maye worked on the realization of this fresco in December, using a large nacelle, as given the perimeter to be covered. “The bad weather, especially the rain, compensated us a lot. We took three weeks to create this fresco compared to 10 days in normal times”, specifies Mondé.
Prior to the creation, at the end of November, the two graffiti artists dialogued with the inhabitants and passers-by, through workshops, “so that people take ownership of this project. We didn’t want to do the fresco and leave. The idea was really to create social ties around this mural, ”slips the Toulousain.
Led jointly by three social landlords (Chalets Group, Patrimoine SA Languedocienne and Toulouse Métropole Habitat), this project aims to promote the place of women in the urban space. “But also bring people who love graffiti to this neighborhood to admire the fresco,” continues Mondé.
Even if it is an order from the three social landlords, the two graffiti artists were given carte blanche. “They just gave us the subject. Then, we used our styles to interpret and realize it. It was very pleasant,” admits the graffiti artist from Toulouse. This kind of order is also for him “an opportunity to work on large walls and to have visibility”.