Ella & Pitr’s Monumental Murals: Urban Walls Reimagined

In 2019, Ella & Pitr painted Le Refuge on a 2,000-square-metre rooftop in Saint-Étienne. This mural features an elderly woman with a tiny bird on her hand, capturing the attention of anyone flying into the industrial city. The once-ordinary concrete roof transformed into a vibrant canvas through their creativity.

Based in Saint-Étienne, Ella & Pitr have spent over a decade turning urban spaces into vast canvases. Their works grace rooftops, walls, and abandoned sites, depicting slumbering giants, whimsical characters, or exaggerated scenes of daily life. They emphasize humour and empathy, breaking the barriers that confine art to galleries.

Their process begins with exploration. "We walk for days sometimes, looking for the right surface," Pitr said in a 2022 interview. "The wall tells us what it wants to become." After identifying a neglected urban structure, they create sketches tailored to the site. Their murals vary from 50 square metres to several thousand, often requiring drones for progress photos and scaffolding for intricate details.

Their 2015 mural Big Sleeping Birdman, painted on an airport runway in Norway, holds the Guinness World Record for the largest outdoor mural at 21,000 square metres. However, size isn’t their main focus. "Scale is a tool for impact," Ella explained in the same interview. "It’s the story we care about." The narratives often reflect local histories or universal emotions: a mother cradling her child, a factory worker resting after a night shift, or a mythical being asleep amidst chimneys and cranes.

The murals’ visual language is straightforward—black-and-white linework with occasional splashes of color. This aesthetic, described as "playful but poignant" by art historian Camille Roux during a 2022 panel at Paris' Centre Pompidou, invites interpretation and fosters connection. Roux remarked, "Their work is not just decoration. It’s a form of dialogue with the space and the community."

Often, the murals emerge as collaborative projects with local residents. Their 2017 work Les Gens du Coin in a Marseille neighbourhood incorporated community suggestions into its design, reflecting shared memories through elements like fishing nets and market stalls. This participatory approach ties the art to its setting, making it collectively owned.

The duo’s art responds to urban blight. They select sites dismissed as eyesores—abandoned warehouses, parking lots, and derelict rooftops. Their interventions transform these spaces into landmarks. A 2020 report by the French Ministry of Culture noted increased foot traffic in areas featuring prominent murals, including Ella & Pitr’s works. Local businesses near Le Refuge reported a 15% rise in customers shortly after its completion. Roux commented, "Street art, when done thoughtfully, is not just aesthetic improvement. It can reframe how communities experience public space."

However, this art form faces criticism. Some question whether street art loses its subversive nature when endorsed by municipalities or corporate sponsors. Ella & Pitr have addressed these concerns. In projects like Les Gens du Coin, they funded the work independently to avoid external influences. "We don’t work for brands," Pitr told ARTDESENT in 2023. "We work for spaces."

Street art’s ephemerality adds another layer to their practice. Weather, redevelopment, or vandalism can erase murals within years. This impermanence doesn’t deter them. "Art is conversation," Ella said. "Conversations end. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t happen."

With projects spanning five continents—including recent works in São Paulo, Lisbon, and Bangkok—Ella & Pitr continue to expand their reach. Their upcoming mural in Athens, slated for early 2024, involves collaboration with a local refugee advocacy group to highlight narratives of displacement and resilience.

Their murals exemplify how public art can transcend mere decoration. They reshape urban landscapes, fostering dialogue and creating moments of joy in unexpected places. But their work also raises broader questions about street art's role in urban planning. For Ella & Pitr, the answer lies in the work itself: a bird perched lightly on a hand, a grandmother’s quiet defiance against the passage of time, a community seeing itself reflected on the walls.