Author: Seb Toussaint

Than chose the word « ยิ้ม » meaning « smile ».

Than is a hair dresser who has a salon right by the walls I’m painting in the area of Haroon. She has been looking after me by giving me water, tea, biscuits, and storing my equipment, so naturally I thought of asking her to choose a word.
It didn’t surprise me when she said “smile”, as I have never seen her face in an other configuration.
I used dots on the whole wall to give a bit of texture and to soften the colours a little.

This mural was painted for Krung Thep Creative Streets, a mural festival organised by several European Embassies and in particular Sawasdee France. Thank you to Astrid Renoux for the organisation!

Dawood chose the word « ผู้ให้ » meaning « giver ».

He is one if the community leaders of Haroon. It’s a small neighbourhood built around Haroon mosque and is home to more or less 100 muslim families, most of which immigrated 3 generations ago from Southern India.

Dawood took me to the mosque and then to the cemetery where bodies are buried under a small mound of soil on which plants and trees are planted.

This mural was painted for Krung Thep Creative Streets, a mural festival organised by several European Embassies and in particular Sawasdee France. Thank you to Astrid Renoux for the organisation and Than who took care of me while I was painting.

This is my latest mural, painted on a difficult surface in Montallegro, Sicily.

As usual I painted it freestyle, inspired by the island of Sicily and the word itself.

Maria chose the word “Amunì” meaning “let’s go” in Sicilian. Marie told me that her word is a call to action, a call to stay in Sicily and build the future and create opportunities instead of migrating to the North of Italy.

Thank you to Farm Cultural Park and Pro Loco Montallegro for the organisation and all the lovely locals for welcoming me to Montallegro! I always have an amazing time in Sicily !

“Al Huriyah” (=“freedom”). 40×30 cm Riso print. 40€ on my online shop. All benefits go to “Yafa Cultural Centre” based in Balata Refugee Camp, in Palestine. Buy it here: https://sebtoussaint.bigcartel.com/

Amongst all the Palestinians who were displaced in 1948 during the Nakba, a community of fishermen from Yafa settled in Balata Refugee Camp, in the West Bank. Today it is home to approximately 25000 refugees making it the most populous Refugee Camp in the West Bank.

I stayed in the Camp twice, and my home was in the culture centre itself. The centre offers many different courses to children of the camp as well as art events and cultural outings.

At night the camp often turns into a war-zone where the occupying army faces local resistance. I personally know kids who got shot in the last couple of years. The latest episode of the ongoing conflict and the expansion of colonisation leave me often hopeless and feeling useless.

But I do think that art can have a real impact in helping a traumatised youth to express itself. Plus, I know from my experience that the locals will feel the love coming from those who purchased a print. Whenever anyone expresses solidarity towards the Palestinian people, they are reminded that although the politicians of the world have abandoned them, the humans of the world have not.

“Share The Word Project” which I started almost 12 years ago makes it into a museum!

“Museo delle Città del Mundo” in Palermo talks about everything to do with cities, their evolution, urbanism, architecture, etc…

I was chosen to talk about slums and refugee camps of course. It’s a huge honour for me.
I’ve been trying to bring as much focus as I can on these marginalised communities by making them more visible and to see these stories and these people make it into a museum, means so so much to me.

Grazie to Florinda Saieva and Andrea Bartoli from Farm Cultural Park for trusting me and recognising the value of my work.

I also want to thank Spag with who this started, Abdul Malek, Nono and El Afghani who have helped me along the way. And of course Dudu who’s always by my side helping me!

“Museo delle Città del Mundo”, a new museum set up in an old convent in the centre of Palermo.

I tried something a little different this time. The background was painted freehand without tape, rulers or spirit levels. The white lines were painted freehand with a brush.

The Museum talks about cities of the world, how they are planned, how they evolve, and how different cities can inspire us. As well as painting a mural, there is an exhibition about “Share The Word Project” with photos, videos and maps. I am honoured that my work is part of the museum, especially to represent the people I’ve been painting for in slums worldwide. It is the first time that “Share The Word Project” is presented in a museum. It means so much to me, it’s difficult to put it into words.

Massive GRAZIE to Florinda Saieva and Andrea Bartoli from Farm Cultural Park for inviting me. And congratulations to them and their team for putting all this together! It’s absolutely amazing, set in a beautiful old building in one of my favourite cities in the world.

I just painted these 2 walls in Fontenay-Sous-Bois, just outside Paris.

The first spells « VIVANT » (alive) while the other spells « RESPECT ». The words were chosen by locals who also suggested ideas of patterns to represent their neighbourhood.

Big thank you to Aurelia Bizouard and Kulturelia for organising this, meeting the locals, gathering information and helping throughout the project!

Here are pictures of my latest work in Sannois, France.

While renovation works are taking place on the Villa Rozée in the town centre, I was asked to create a piece on the site’s barriers. The building is the former town hall that will be used for weddings in the near future. I created patters that reference Sannois’s flora, architecture and heraldry.

Organised by Quai 36 !

Bocage – 60 x 80 cm -acrylic on canvas. Artwork for sale – contact me for more info.

The Bocage is a part of Normandy where small fields are separated by hedges and woodlands forming a mosaic of small rectangles. The term “bocage” is used to describe other similar agricultural landscapes in other parts of the world. Several elements reference Normandy such as the presence of two leopards like on the flag, as well as Normandy being placed in the centre of the globe.

This canvas was created for the group show “Impressions Urbaines” taking place in Argenteuil, France.

I’ve just finished this work at the centre for migrants at Porto Empedocle in Sicily.

The word « الحياة » meaning “life” in Arabic was chosen by Salam, a young Egyptian who had just crossed the Mediterranean Sea by boat. I wrote the word in Arabic on one side and in Italian on the other.

Here the Italian Red Cross takes care of any ill or injured migrants before sending them to hosting facilities elsewhere in Italy where they will possibly obtain refugee status.

With Share The Word Project, I’ve often painted the words of victims of conflicts, and refugees all over the world. But this was the first time I painted the word of someone who was still on the move. It was very interesting for me to paint in that context.

I want to thank Andrea Bartoli and Farm Cultural Park for organising all of this and being such great hosts!