Street Art London

This post!!

A few years ago I attended some kind of conflab with the head of the cleaning department at an East London local council and the guy said "One complaint to the Mayor and he's on the phone to me fussing about collapse of the borough". The problem is no one tells the council they love the art.
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Sign the petition, it takes a second but you will need a genuine email address, to show that the overwhelming majority appreciate this artistic work, the positivity, the brightening up of our common public environment and the fact that it is not a fucking advert

I've joined the forum to add a sense of balance to the comments posted below and provide an alternative local view to the one being promoted.
There is never just one side to a story and above has prompted me to post.

I've got some questions as to above:

The murals convey a message of: Acknowledgement. Hope. Compassion. During an international health crisis, some of the psychological impacts are elevated anxiety as peoples circumstances drastically change. We realise this and want to acknowledge the difficulty of quarantine and uncertain times. It is clear as quarantine measures are relaxing for the summer that behaviour towards one another are also changing, and the aim is to draw attention to the reality of our most vulnerable people – our rough sleepers, hoping to inspire reflection on the individual experience of rough sleepers, as well as offer a message of motivation, strength, and recovery for the thousands of people who walk this bridge every day.

I absolutely agree that the current impact on the homeless is incredibly concerning, speaking to homeless people in Kilburn it is so clear how much harder thigns have become for them over the last 8 weeks. In light of this I am completely unclear as to how the artwork inspires reflection on their individual experience of sleeping rough. There is no mention of this on the finished artwork, there was no mention of this when the work was being put up. The piece by Zabou is supposedly motivated by the wonderful John and his dog, a locally loved homeless character who very sadly passed away last year. Again there is no mention on the bridge of this next to the piece.

I live on the road that runs down the side of the railway bridge and saw Ben and Zabou putting up the piece of art at the time both myself and my partner believed the work to be related to COVID - one of Zabou's characters is wearing a mask. I would be very surprised if this the only opinion that was held

Last week on Twitter a resident posted a survey asking who is for and against the Art work at the bridge 87 percent of the participants supported the initiative and congratulated all of the volunteers involved on their hard work. A great number of the funds we have raised were also from locals to purchase art supplies to complete the bridge.

This is really disingenuous. There are thousands of people who live in West Hampstead, I suspect the majority of which won't have seen the poll on Twitter nor used it. I imagine that the poll was created by someone in favour of the artwork, who was followed by people who also already agreed, all of which was a small pool that is far from representative of West Hampstead residents as a whole. 

Finally the mural is not advertising. The lettering on the mural represents a response to the climate of anxiety, defeat, and desperation that London is experiencing during these uncertain times, it is a vital reminder to maintain an attitude of empathy and kindness towards our neighbours – the rough sleepers, who are growing in number throughout the world as a result of unemployment. The mural bears no resemblance to our logo which is a ray of light in the shape of a circle

Again this is disingenuous. It has the name of Zabou, the name of the organisation and no-where on the mural any mention of what the mural is really inspired by. So in this case it is an advertisement for the organisation and Zabou.
It is not clear in any way shape or form what the mural stands for and I completely disagree that it reminds people of empathy and kindness. Personally (and I understand that this is just my opinion) every time I walk past I see a person in a mask, which only serves to remind me of the fear and distress that has grabbed hold of society so effectively, and this the polar opposite of the feelings inspired in me by John, when he was alive and selling his books on the bridge. 

I understand that this is my point of view and I have no vested interest in whether the art stays or goes. Personally I like Ben's piece - but fail to see any relevance to homelessness. Zabou's not so and I would be happy to see replaced, however I don't feel this justifies buffing the piece. 

Where I am frustrated is the lack of clarity around what the work is motivated by, followed by the above looking for a petition asking to save the work. 
I contacted the artist who has arranged the whole event, outlining my surprise at the lack of information for the mural and asking if it was possible to explain the motivations for it next to the finished piece. I have heard nothing - which seems fairly surprising if you are looking to work with all the local residents, as opposed to the ones whose opinions match your own. Living in an echo chamber is never a safe place to be. If this was really about homelessness and bringing attention to this then that needs to be explicit and mentioned. Without any mention of this I am unclear as to why the work should be allowed to stay, especially when the name of the organisation and artists names remain there for all to find. 

I'm not looking (nor need) a discussion as I lost faith in that to happen reasonably on the the internet years ago. I also understand above are just my views - in exactly the same way as the ones I am responding to are someone else's. 

My intention, as I stated at the outset is to provide some balance to what is being presented in a less than fair light. Hopefully this will provide that balance and allow people to think what the other side could represent. 

First and last post. 

Agree, disagree if you've got this far thank you for reading.

Missing you already....

Appreciate the comment, I wasn't part of this project so can't answer directly. I would suggest looking/following their social media handles as that provides a full picture and understanding of the works.  

New mural by Vibes - July 2020

Insa


curiouser


Helch


Tom Blackford


Remi Rough