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At this year’s ALL CAPS Festival in Rotterdam, internationally renowned duo SNIK unveiled a mural titled ‘RENEW’ that redefines the very notion of strength. Known for their fusion of hand-cut stencil work and atmospheric storytelling, SNIK’s latest creation turns its gaze inward, away from the familiar tropes of toughness, toward something gentler, more enduring.
“We wanted this mural to explore looking at strength differently. The figure grounded, serene and surrounded by flowers which are symbols people don’t usually connect with masculinity. Strength isn’t only about toughness; it can also be gentleness, openness and renewal. Rotterdam felt like the right place for this story. A city that was once destroyed and rebuilt… where even flowers push through concrete. Growth in unexpected places is its own kind of power.” SNIK
The central figure is grounded, serene, enveloped in a constellation of flowers. These blooms, symbols too often relegated to fragility, are here reimagined as emblems of power. They suggest that masculinity need not be synonymous with hardness. Instead, strength can exist in tenderness, in openness, in the act of renewal itself.
‘RENEW’ – Painted for ALL CAPS festival in Rotterdam 2025. Image copyright SNIK
Rotterdam as a Living Metaphor
Few cities are as fitting a backdrop for this mural as Rotterdam. Once destroyed during the Second World War, then rebuilt, the city embodies resilience and reinvention. SNIK’s mural captures this duality: strength as both monumental and delicate, both architectural and organic. Growth in unexpected places, flowers in concrete, hope after devastation, becomes a meaning metaphor for power.
‘RENEW’ – Painted for ALL CAPS festival in Rotterdam 2025. Image copyright SNIK
Strength and Beauty
The new mural invites contemplation. In presenting flowers as companions to serenity the mural argues for a wider, richer vocabulary of strength. It suggests that in softness lies endurance, and that renewal is itself a radical act of defiance against despair.
‘RENEW’ – Painted for ALL CAPS festival in Rotterdam 2025. Image copyright SNIK
Just as Rotterdam has risen from destruction, so too does the new mural suggesting that new forms of strength emerge from the fragile, persistent insistence of life.
Discover More from SNIK
For collectors and admirers wishing to experience more of SNIK’s work, a curated selection of their pieces is available through our online store and in person at the gallery. Each artwork continues their exploration of strength, fragility, and renewal, whether on canvas, paper, or in monumental public form.
Discover SNIK’s artwork and more at GraffitiStreet gallery, 25a West Street, Chichester, England, PO19 1QW.