The river Bièvre flows out of sight now, hidden in pipes under the roadway.  Only the odd change of levels, where Rue Pascal runs under Boulevard Port Royal, suggests that once this was a river bank.

 

 

The underpass was a grey and dismal place until June this year when Babs, Socrome and Keyone got to work.  Now a fantastic river flows along either side of the road, echoing the almost forgotten river that flows beneath the tarmac.

 

 

The project, chosen by local votes for funding under the city’s Budget Participatif, was two years in the planning.  This is street art at its most official and hopefully at its most durable.

 

 

Unlike some Paris street artists who have branched out into the street after art school training, Babs, Socrome and Keyone are all self taught.   Babs learnt his trade tagging walls in the southern suburbs of Paris.  Socrome grew up in the Comoros islands and celebrates his origins in the anagram (of the French Comores) that is his tag.  Keyone comes from the Antilles and, with Socrome, is part of the Le Chat Noir (LCN) crew.  That’s about all I can find out about him.

 

 

The murals speak for themselves, when you can follow the thread behind the parked cars and the rubbish sacks.

 

 

Click on any image for a closer view.