About
The mural tells the story of humanity through different cultures, peoples and eras in a style inspired by the Symbolist artistic movement.
The central character represents Earth, Mother Nature, the birth of us. It is depicted by a female figure, the woman being associated with fertility and life in most ancient cultures.
The 4 characters around Her represent four continents (Africa, the Near East, Asia, Oceania and the Americas), and four major families of cultures associated with them, illustrated in the spheres. Different periods of h story are recounted: the invention of cuneiform writing (bottom right), the millennial Asian culture (top right), the fall of the Western Roman Empire which marks the end of the a tiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages (top left), the Modern Times with the discovery of the Americas (bottom left). These events in time have influenced world cultures amongst them. The decorative motifs in the background are inspired by non-European arts and civilizations, iconography and symbolism of ancient cultures, in homage to our plural roots.
The last image when reading this fable is the End of Times, or rather that of our human civilizations. This period is illustrated in the semicircle that is completely at the bottom of the image. This sixth sphere of culture is a great desert, without life nor culture. This is the ultimate message of this mural, to take care of our planet, the Earth, if we do not want to disappear one day.
