In March, Hong Kong was a hive of creativity. As the city teemed with art and culture festivals and exhibitions, street art festival HKWalls returned for its 11th edition.
Walking around the courtyard of the PMQ, the festival’s HQ, artists were hard at work. Toward the centre of the open space, French muralist and printmaker Théo Haggaï sat quietly next to a large fan that ventilated the area amid the city’s growing spring heat. Clad in a black hoodie, he hovered over a dimly lit and small studio desk, while studying a piece of dried grey clay and pondering how to render his new creation. With paint, brushes and an electric drill all close at hand, he paused, then invited us into his world of colour and symbolism.
Raised in a small village near Marseille by politically engaged parents, Haggaï used art to express himself during his teenage years. That passion led him to become a multidisciplinary artist, beginning as a self‑taught photographer and later experimenting with drawing, engraving and clay.
He moved from Marseille to Lyon in 2013, then to Paris in 2019, drawn by the promise of a more connected art scene and the space to deepen his practice. There, his visual language took shape: dreamlike figures holding hands, encircled by mandalas. In Asian religions like Buddhism, the mandala evokes the universe and the idea of wholeness — symbols that felt natural for Haggaï to adopt. To him, the world exists in two symmetrical halves; only in coming together can we move toward a shared purpose. “As humans, we should exist together as one,” he says.
A different direction
Over the years, HKWalls has become known for pushing street art to ever larger, more public scales. Last year, Isaac Cordal’s figurines sprouted across Central and Western District; they’re still there to discover. This year saw Hardthirteen paint a Bruce Lee mural in Sheung Wan and the Lightwaves digital projections illuminate Victoria Harbour along Tsim Sha Tsui and Empire Centres, featuring works by artists such as Eggshellsea, Chow Kai, Ondrej Rakusan and Seohyo.
But Haggaï’s practice moves in an opposite direction. Part of a broader lineup of spotlighted European contemporary artists, including Ireland’s Asbestos and Italy’s Fabio Petani, Haggaï’s approach does not dominate walls nor façades. Instead, his works inhabit overlooked corners and intimate spaces.
In an art scene defined by large-scale works and spectacle, why does Haggaï choose to go small? The answer, fittingly, also lies in more minute details. “I worked on big walls for 10 years, and realised the art world can become very competitive. It’s about who can outdo the other in terms of scale and size,” he says. Instead, Haggaï looks towards tinier imperfections that most people pass without notice.
In these variegated surfaces — shattered tiles, broken edges, weathered walls — he finds his own kind of canvas. What might seem insignificant becomes a site of care; a way of restoring value to what the city leaves behind. By drawing attention to these details, Haggaï gestures toward a broader awareness: one that asks us to notice not just places, but the people who remain unseen. “Why not the little cracks in the street too?” he asks.
For festival co-founder Maria Wong, this sensitivity is precisely what drew her to Haggai’s works. She points to his ability to transform overlooked spaces into intricate, hand-crafted sculpture: “His practice adds a layer of romance and intimacy to the urban landscape.” A powerful addition to this year’s festival, his work carries a sense of hope that resonates deeply with Hong Kong’s community.
Stronger together
Eager to travel around the world and spread a positive message, Haggaï was drawn to Hong Kong’s global art scene and set out to make his own mark. Staying true to his signature style, he continued to explore the mandala’s theme of solidarity.
For this year’s edition of HKWalls, he created 10 works across the Central and Western District. Amid a recurring cast of symmetrical silhouette protagonists, the pieces incorporate motifs such as the sun and moon. While these figures remain a constant in his practice, he adapts symbolic details to reflect the city he is working in. One piece abstractly depicts the bauhinia flower — a nod to Hong Kong’s official floral emblem.
It was also his first time in Asia — an experience that left a strong impression. “It is one of the most modern cities in the world, where you find a contrast of old and new,” he says. “Even so, I can still find cracks. I love to put some details in such a big city with many buildings.”
It is in these surroundings that his creative process reflects an intimacy with the city itself. Walking along Hong Kong streets, he sought nooks and crannies in walls and stairs. Once chosen, he applies plastic wrap, moulds clay onto it, lets it dry, then paints in blue (the artist also uses black in his other works) for stark contrast and to be more visually impactful unlike a bright background colour, such as yellow. He engraves details and then paints the outlines in gold — reminiscent of the traditional Japanese art of kintsugi that involves repairing broken pottery by mending lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum — before sticking the piece back in place.
Although Haggaï acknowledges that sharing his work on social media has brought him wider recognition, he cautions against its isolating effects. “These days, we tend to be egocentric and enclose ourselves from one another in the digital world,” he says.
Wong echoes this sentiment. She adds that beauty and creativity are often found where we least expect. “If we pause, look up from our phones and notice our surroundings, we will discover delightful surprises woven into the fabric of the city,” she says. In this sense, Haggai’s work becomes a reminder to slow down and reconnect with the world around us.
After all, communication offers a way to rebuild connection, foregrounding shared experience over the isolating glow of the screen. The artist hopes his chosen medium — art — can transform interpersonal relationships, encouraging real-life connections by taking the time to ask each other how they are.
Endless possibilities
Haggaï observes how the shapes available to him shift from city to city, influencing how and where he casts his moulds. In Paris, he often works with holes in walls; whereas in Hong Kong, particularly on Hong Kong Island, he discovers a wider range of openings — from walls to the sides of staircases, sometimes visible from both ends. Embracing this unpredictability, he adapts his technique to each environment, finding beauty in the challenge of working with whatever the city offers.
This sense of adaptability, coupled with ephemerality, is reflected in his practice and feels even more pronounced in Hong Kong — a city in flux, perpetually shaped and reshaped by development. His pieces may still be there years later, or they may have cracked and faded. This uncertainty opens up possibilities for intervention, allowing him to revisit, rework or build upon existing pieces. Even if the works disappear, he sees the street as a fleeting but vital canvas for expression. “Each piece needs to be part of a moment or an epoch. Every artist needs to leave the spot for the next one,” he says.
Looking ahead, Haggaï is ambitious with several projects lined up for this year. While he aimed to finish his works for HKWalls soon after our chat, his sights were already set on taking up new commissions, a forthcoming exhibition in Rouen from May to June and participation in an art festival in Bosnia in August. He also hopes to stage a solo exhibition in Paris, ideally at an atelier, though the plan remains an evolving goal.
Photos courtesy HKWalls.
Click here to see where all 10 of Haggaï’s works are located.