Traditional Czech lace inspires new Žižkov mural by Polish artist
A new mural has been unveiled on Kostnické Square in Prague’s Žižkov district. Created by Polish artist NeSpoon, it is inspired by traditional Czech lace. Ruth Fraňková went to have a look.
The artwork, which was unveiled on Monday evening, covers two walls of a former transformer station with an intricate white lace pattern set against a pink background.
The mural is part of the Urban Pictus festival, organised by The Chemistry Gallery, which has long been involved in bringing new life to Prague’s walls. Petr Hájek, founder of the gallery and the festival, says the building had caught his attention some time ago.
“I’m not from Prague 3, but I was passing by from time to time, and it has always been a kind of ugly, grey technical building. They renovated this square a few years ago, and suddenly a very nice environment was created here. The only missing part was some art on this grey building.”
Lace is a signature element of NeSpoon’s work. The Polish artist often bases her murals on patterns drawn from local traditions and historical sources, which she brings into public spaces around the world.
“I think lace is a beautiful symbol of harmony, of love, of good energy, good emotions. Most of the laces involve patterns from nature, like flowers, like leaves, and they also look like mandalas. They have very good energy, and the most important thing is that they have always been made by women, so there is very beautiful women’s energy inside all the laces. And it’s also about connections.”
For the Prague mural, NeSpoon went back through the history of Czech lace to find a pattern that would suit the setting. She eventually chose a design dating back to the 17th century, which she found in the archives of the National Museum.
“The Czech lace history is very interesting. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a revolution in Czech lace-making, especially among women in Prague. But the laces from that period are very modern and very minimalistic, and this kind of lace didn’t fit this environment.
“All around the place where we are standing by this mural, there are buildings with a lot of decor. So I needed to find a lace which also had a lot of decor, with a lot of flower motifs, and which was very beautiful.”
The delicate and intricate pattern now stretches across around 150 square metres of the building.
“Women have always decorated not only their clothes with lace, but also their homes. When they put lace on the table, on the furniture, sometimes on the television, it made the home more comfortable.
“It made the home more beautiful and more unique. And I am doing exactly the same, but I put the lace on a bigger scale, into the urban landscape.”
Hájek had first seen NeSpoon’s work the previous year at the HKwalls street-art festival in Hong Kong, where she was working on a similar building. Her work caught his eye, and when the time came to choose an artist for the Prague mural, her name came up again.
“We have a friend of ours, Daniel, who is a Polish guy living in Prague and runs the Street Art Czechia and Street Art Praha Instagram pages. We asked him who he would suggest bringing to Prague for a mural, and NeSpoon was the first person he suggested.
“So it all kind of connected, and from that moment we knew that NeSpoon was the right choice. And I think the outcome speaks for itself.”
The project is not quite finished yet. NeSpoon completed two of the three planned walls during her week in Prague and will return in the near future to complete the remaining section.
