When: Wednesday 12 July, starting at 19:00
Where: UNESCO Headquarters, 7 place de Fontenoy, 75007 Paris, France
Please click here to register for this event.
This superb creation by Vhils reflects UNESCO's mission to celebrate contemporary artists and provide a platform where their creativity can be fully expressed.Audrey Azoulay UNESCO Director-General
The headquarters of UNESCO house over a thousand works of art from all over the world by some of the most iconic names: from Pablo Picasso to Alexander Calder, from Sonia Delaunay to Dani Karavan, from Isamu Noguchi to Roberto Matta...
Thanks to Portugal's generosity, this collection will be enriched this month by a new piece: SUBSTRATUM - Scratching the Surface project | UNESCO, a monumental creation by artist Vhils and commissioned especially for UNESCO.
Patiently carved with chisels and a miniature hammer drill since early May, the artwork pays tribute to one of UNESCO's most revered figures: Ellen Wilkinson, a British politician, feminist and reformer, who presided over the Organization's inaugural Conference.
The 31-metre-long mural also showcases the remarkable diversity of world heritage that UNESCO protects, through the representation of eleven sites across several continents.
About Vhils
Alexandre Farto, also known as Vhils, has developed a unique visual language based on removing surface layers from walls using unconventional tools and techniques. He began interacting with the urban environment through graffiti in the early 2000s. Destroying in order to create, he carves powerful, poetic visual statements into the materials which the city has discarded, humanizing dilapidated areas by creating poignant, large-scale portraits. He tackles themes such as the impact of urbanization and mass development upon landscapes and identities. Since 2005, his work has been presented across the world in major exhibits and events.
