‘Child’ is a more intimate and intimate work than KENDE’s large panels, yet it retains the same tension between the street, memory and a weathered surface. At the centre of the composition stands the figure of a child, rendered in a direct and incisive style, almost like a stencil apparition emerging from a weathered wall. Around it, marks, drips and calligraphic traces create a rough, urban setting, marked by the passage of time.
The work was conceived as a tribute and dedication to Blek le Rat, the Parisian pioneer and undisputed master of the stencil technique. In this homage, KENDE does not simply imitate a style: he absorbs it into his own artistic exploration, creating a dialogue between the iconic power of the stencil and the layered nature of graffiti and urban calligraphy. The child thus becomes a suspended presence, fragile yet powerful at the same time, a poetic figure within a surface that is marked, worn and alive.
