Enormous Mural Depicts the Balance of Power, Delicacy, and Endurance
Each year for the last ten years, the Alpine city of Grenoble, located in southeastern France, shines as a center for street art. This yearly transformation is primarily attributed to the Street Art Festival of Grenoble, which since 2015 has introduced over 400 murals to the city created by artists from across the globe. In this year’s installment, the UK-based duo SNIK revealed Flourish, their latest piece and, in many respects, their most intricate artwork yet.
Standing 14 meters high (approximately 46 feet), Flourish required immense patience and meticulousness to finish. The mural showcases a woman adorned with a chaotic arrangement of flowers covering her face, executed in an etched manner. Her expression is resolute, gazing straight ahead, surrounded by vibrant splashes of pink and blue that envelop her like a delicate mist. With its graphic details and vibrant colors, the entire piece appears painstakingly layered, though it was crafted as a single-layer stencil, hand-cut over several weeks.
“With just a single layer to utilize, there’s no room for error,” Nik Ellis of SNIK shares with My Modern Met. “Every minute detail, every edge, every color gradient needed to be intentional. The scale itself posed a challenge—painting a face of that size while attempting to convey a sense of delicateness in the expression.”
Even as it pushed SNIK “technically and physically,” Flourish exudes a sense of calm and clarity, harmonizing beautifully with its urban environment. However, Ellis warns that street art is ultimately transient, serving as a “soft reminder that change is constant,” akin to the blossoming and eventual wilting of a flower. It is precisely this contrast between renewal and impermanence that intrigues SNIK—and the botanical themes felt essential to include throughout Flourish.
“Enveloped by greenery and blooms, it seems like she’s both emerging from something and being reclaimed by it,” Ellis clarifies. “Flowers blossom, wither, and then vanish. That conflict between power and delicacy has consistently been a significant element of our creations.”
Another important—and intrinsic—feature of street art is, as Ellis notes, the relationship between a work and its local community. During their time in Grenoble, residents in the area “came out daily to observe [us work], ask questions, bring us food, or simply check in,” the artist notes. “From afar, [Flourish] attracts attention, but it’s also deeply connected to its location—the colors, the figure, the natural forms seem destined to be there.”
Regarding what Ellis hopes audiences will take from the mural: “Ideally, it offers those who pass by daily something a little different—a chance to pause.”