Street art as a means of expression

In this fresco created in September 2022 by the Spanish artist Elias Taños, we can see a mosaic inspired by real events connected to the city of Nîmes. At the top, he indicates the subject of his work: the release of Spanish political prisoners in 1944.

Thus the prison environment is evoked by the presence of a lock, a birdcage and the necklace of convicts, the Nazi dictatorship's eagle symbol.

The latter is shown to have been defeated by the sneaker crushing the swastika, and the portrait of General de Gaulle.

The power of the work is emphasized by a symbolic chromatic choice: red, black and yellow, which evoke both the colors of the German and Spanish flags but also those of the Communist Party. This latter is also evoked through the sickle.

In the left corner, we see a portrait of Cristiano García, who was the head of 20 Spanish guerrillas who enables the release of their compatriots, locked up in the prison house of Nîmes, currently a site of Vauban university.

Finally, the raised hand holding a brush echoes our contemporary period and evokes freedom of expression for artists.