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Le retour du refoulé was created in 2017 for the Urban Art Biennale at the Völklinger Hütte. Its creator is French artist Charles Leval, known as Levalet, who was born in Épinal in 1988 and lives and works in Paris. He draws his realistic figures by hand in ink on paper before pasting them onto walls and other surfaces. The work thus combines a meticulous drawing technique with the immediate visual impact of street art.

The French title can be translated as “The Return of the Repressed”. It refers to a psychoanalytical concept associated with Sigmund Freud: repressed experiences or feelings can unexpectedly return to consciousness. In Levalet's composition, the birds appear to haunt the almost disembodied worker. The official description by the Völklinger Hütte highlights the unsettling atmosphere, evoking the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

The industrial interior is more than a backdrop. Peeling plaster, traces of former use and surviving technical installations contrast with the precisely drawn figures. The work seems closely tied to its setting, with the drawn figure resembling an apparition emerging from the site's industrial past.

Urban Art Biennale Völklingen 2017

Artworks