Vincent Bargis, of France, is a special kind of artist. He makes his artwork out of materials found in his surroundings – for example, tickets from the metro, or underground. But turning his passion into a profession has its origins in a life-threatening incident.

In February 2009 Vincent Bargis had an accident on his scooter in the middle of the night. He was seriously injured and lay in a ditch for several hours, until a passer-by discovered him. Just in time. Another 20 minutes, said the medics, and he would have frozen to death. For Vincent Bargis this experience was a veritable caesura, and he decided to change his life completely, to do what gave him the most joy – make art. He uses materials that he finds in his surroundings.

Since the accident he no longer rides a motorcycle and mostly gets around on the Paris metro. Which is where he got the idea for a major project. The magnetic strips on the underground tickets serve as the basic material for his art. “This art project is my first real project, the first in my life, in fact, in my career”, says Vincent Bargis. Self-determination for him is something natural. “Once you put it into practice on the things that matter to you in your life, that’s when you grow. That’s when you start to be happy.”