THE BLIND “En faire voir de toutes les couleurs” (2025)
In cooperation with the Institut Français and the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim
Mannheim’s first mural featuring Braille has been completed! Titled “Enfaire voir de toutes les couleurs / For a Colorful World of Diversity, ”the new work by THE BLIND stretches across a 40-meter-long metal wall in Block J5—on the north side of the laboratory building of the Central Institute for Mental Health (ZI). Together with children from the Schloss-Schule Ilvesheim as well as children and young people from the ZI, the French artist and his assistant Julien created a colorful wall design in just five days that combines sight and touch: colorful letters, complemented by Braille made from plaster hemispheres.
“En faire voir de toutes les couleurs,” The Blind, J5, Mannheim © Alexander Krziwanie
With this mural, the partners are celebrating three anniversaries at once: 10 years of the Institut Français Mannheim, 50 years of the Central Institute for Mental Health—and 200 years of Braille. The idea originated in 2024, when THE BLIND contacted the Institut Français and proposed a collaboration. Within a year, everything fell into place: the ZI provided the wall, and STADT.WAND.KUNST joined as a partner for the artistic execution.
This dynamic collaboration has produced a work of art that seeks to break down barriers and be accessible to as many people as possible. The lettering is rendered in bold colors in French, while blind and visually impaired people can feel it in Braille. The French idiom “En faire voir de toutes les couleurs” literally means “to show someone all the colors,” but is often translated figuratively as “to go overboard.” THE BLIND deliberately plays with this idiom—for him, it represents a call to action: for a colorful world of diversity.
The artist was enthusiastic about Mannheim: he was drawn to the city’s “multicultural and linguistic melting pot” as well as the open conversations he had with passersby while working on the wall. Franco-German relations are also close to his heart: “When we come together through art, a deeper understanding of one another emerges,” said the artist from Nantes.
THE BLIND has developed a unique form of street art: for over two decades, he has dedicated himself to graffiti in Braille. His art can be experienced by both sighted and blind people alike—the three-dimensional Braille lettering, made from molded hemispheres that he places on spray-painted outlines, can be both read visually and felt by touch. He explains how he came to this inclusive art form with a short story: “Many years ago, we were spray-painting a large graffiti piece on a French highway at night. We proudly said, ‘Wow, everyone will see this!’ Then I paused for a moment and thought: ‘Except for blind people.’” That moment—along with his own experience of severe dyslexia, which made it difficult for him to access school and art college—became the starting point for his work: making art accessible to as many people as possible.
THE BLIND describes his approach as “artivisme” —a fusion of art and activism that raises awareness and fosters community. Whether it’s a climbing wall made of Braille created for the Paris Olympics or a work featuring recreated breasts near a clinic for breast cancer patients—he always asks: How does our society function? Who is on the margins? And how can we dissolve these margins to include everyone? With his mural in Mannheim, THE BLIND offers a colorful answer to these questions.
You can find more photos of the mural here on the SWR website, for example.
The mural was created in collaboration with the Institut Français and the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim. The project is funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports as part of state grants aimed at promoting the French language and culture among students in Baden-Württemberg.
