Murals | Embracing Belgium

International collaborative initiative with local street artists

Belgium has launched an international collaborative initiative with local street artists, allowing them to express their vision of Belgium by painting murals in city centres in various countries.

Two murals will be seeing the light of day in 2024:

one in Cape Town (South Africa) reflecting Belgium's diversity and openness;
another in Paris (France) highlighting the key role of Belgian technology in the 2024 Olympics.

Cape Town: street art celebrating love

Warm embrace

A 95-m² wall in Cape Town (South Africa) is the canvas for a mural focusing on diversity. Created by South African artist Elléna Lourens, it covers the themes of love, unity, equality and acceptance.

Belgium and South Africa are both pioneers when it comes to diversity. In 2023, Belgium celebrated the 20th anniversary of its legalisation of same-sex marriage. It was only the second country in the world to take this historic step. South Africa too was a pioneer in this regard, being the first African nation and the fifth country overall to do this.

The mural in Cape Town presents a message of mutual respect and celebration. It will be officially unveiled on 18 February 2024, in the run-up to this year's famed Cape Town Pride Parade Festival.

Address: Alfred Street, Green Point, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa.

The artist Elléna Lourens

Elléna Lourens is a young South African artist whose works contrast with the tradition of busy and colourful urban art. Her light and poetic murals use minimal lines and colours to create spaces of real serenity in the city.

“For me this commission connected strongly with my approach to art, I wanted to create something impactful yet warm so striking but not intimidating, to communicate what it feels like to embrace openness. The location means it will be visible to all celebrating pride. Embracing Openness is very much about all the vibrancy of our cultures, by representing the diversity in two ways, in terms of love but also by offering a diversity of perspectives”.