A B R FESTIVAL

A mural for peace by Mathieu Devavry, finished together with the people of Malounta on 23 May 2026.

What happens when a mural stops belonging only to the artist and opens itself to the public? On Saturday 23 May, Malounta hosted an open, participatory art intervention by French artist Mathieu Devavry, in collaboration with ABR, inviting everyone to become part of the work itself.

For several days, Devavry worked on a mural shaped around peace, coexistence and the idea of public space as something we share. Shortly before its final reveal, the wall was handed over to the public: children, residents, visitors and passers-by were invited to write, draw and leave their mark through colour, words and symbols.

The wall becomes everyone’s

For Devavry, street art is not only about the final image. It is about public space becoming a place of encounter, dialogue and shared experience. As he puts it, a mural can be a “mirror of the community”: a way of opening space for expression and communication without violence.

Rather than acting only as the creator of a work placed in public space, he chose to be a mediator, opening the process to the community and letting the work take shape through everyone who took part. There were materials for all ages, from child-friendly sprays and brushes to tools for freer intervention, plus free drinks and bites.

IT IS A WORK THAT WE WILL ALL MAKE TOGETHER

Something we wrote together

What began as an artwork by one artist became a shared moment: a mural made with the presence, energy and contribution of the people around it. A common moment, a collective mark, a mirror of the community.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in Malounta and left a mark, to the Malounta Community Council, the Malounta Youth Centre and the MALOUS Cultural Workshop for their hospitality, and to Doros Theodorou, Theodoulos Gregoriou and Malounta High School for their support. Special thanks to Mathieu Devavry.

Filming: Antonis Pouliasis

The EUnity20 project is a collaboration between ABR – Alternative Brains Rule, YEU Cyprus, SigmaLive and the University of Limassol. It is an EU project funded under the programme CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.