An Athenian "neo-muralist" is fusing Greek mythology and Byzantine iconography with graffiti and street artwork to illustrate how the coronavirus has caused people all around the world to simmer down.

Fikos has painted the walls of several towns, including Bangkok, Rabat, and Zurich, but he is currently bringing color to the sun-beaten walls of Cyprus's capital, Nicosia.

The 33-year-old spends his time traversing the small back alleyways of Nicosia's Old City, looking for walls to paint on.

The broken façade of a decaying mud-brick home in a deserted, dusty lot near the UN-patrolled buffer zone that separates the city's Greek and Turkish-speaking sections is the one he selected for his next project.

The Greek artist, who identifies himself as a "neo-muralist," says he has spent the last year on the Mediterranean island fighting with the Covid-19 epidemic, which is represented in his current work.

Standing on a shaky platform, he begins with a brushstroke down the brow of Amaracus, the perfume-maker of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, whose destiny he claims symbolizes our life in the coronavirus era.

Stigma

Fikos claims that Cypriots have embraced his artwork, rather than those that associate it with graffiti.

His paintings currently decorate five facades on Nicosia's Greek-Cypriot side, which has also been split along ethnic lines since communal strife occurred in 1963-4.

Fikos claims to be influenced by a wide range of sources, including art from ancient Greece, Egypt, and Japan. One such piece of art may be found near the Green Line, which separates Nicosia.

It depicts King Onassagoras, who controlled the kingdom of Ledra in 672 BC, alongside three female characters, one among them is Nicosia, who is shown as a lady divided in half.

Mythology remains

Fikos claims that in the past, he had been unable to persuade Athenians to let him paint over the city's gaudy graffiti, maybe for free.

But his popularity is rising both at home and overseas, and he is now compensated for his efforts.

Fikos claims to have been contracted to create murals in France, Ireland, Mexico, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine.

They may cover whole facades of buildings as tall as 17 stories, such as one in Kiev, while remaining discreet and unnoticeable.

He estimates that once the study is completed, the process of painting the murals would only take two or three days.