Barcelona based artists Javier de Riba and Maria Lopez collaborated to create an incredible mural that undergoes a dramatic shift when the sun sets. At first, the Hizkuntza Mural appears to be a sweet but simple picture of a whale. But come nighttime, the stomach of the whale lights up, revealing a glowing design.
The belly of the beast reveals whalers, suggesting an ambiguous power change. Passersby are left wondering if the whale swallowed them whole or if they, in fact, overtook the whale.
The mural was set in Patxa Plaza, France, a popular tourist location. The artists say they were inspired by the complicated history of whaling. The commercial extinction of the whale in the Cantabrian Sea, Eubalena Glaciallis, had forced, in fact, the Basque sailors to move to new territories.
See the mural and other works by the duo in the gallery below.
