Behind the Screens

On the tall side wall of a housing block in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, four large portraits gaze out at the street. Each figure is absorbed in an everyday action: one scrolls on a phone, another listens to music through headphones, a third contemplates with hands folded, while the fourth raises a megaphone as if to speak. Their bold, block-like forms are painted in vibrant colors—reds, blues, greens—that make them impossible to ignore against the brick façade.

Created by Dutch artist Oxymystic, Behind the Screen reflects on the role of technology in shaping contemporary life and social connections. The figures suggest both presence and distance: they share the wall, yet each seems enclosed in their own world of devices, voices, and thoughts. The mural asks us to consider what happens when screens mediate our interactions, and whether we risk losing sight of one another in the process.

Located in a diverse neighborhood where many cultures and generations intersect, the mural speaks directly to residents and passersby. It transforms a simple street corner into a site of reflection on communication, community, and the invisible boundaries that technology creates.

Martje Rullens (Oxenmystic) is a Belgian-born, Rotterdam-based street artist whose work blends bold characters, personal reflection and social observation. She discovered her love for street art in 2016 while volunteering at The Crystal Ship festival in Oostende, where she first stepped onto a lift and assisted international artists. Inspired, she began experimenting with spray cans in Gent’s legal graffiti zones and soon joined Sticky Fingers Graffiti, a year-long program of mural making, masterclasses and lift training between Graffiti vzw and Stichting KOP. After volunteering at POW! WOW! Rotterdam in 2019, she led the festival’s education program the following year, creating a 200 m² chalk-spray floor mural that invited kids and neighbours to collaborate. Today, Martje works as a street art and illustration teacher in schools across the Netherlands and as a guide for Rewriters010. Under the name Oxenmystic, she draws from her own experiences, emotions and the world around her, especially how technology shapes our daily lives and relationships. Her characters reflect a diverse society that is connected yet deeply individualistic. With each mural, she aims to spark conversation, encourage reflection and bring people together through art.