Shoreditch Honours #Grenfell

‘You heard it in the cries in the air howling for justice.’

I recently saw this beautiful tribute to the Grenfall victims in Shoreditch, London – a  mural which was a collaboration between writer Ben Okri and street artist Ben Eine, taken from the words of Okri’s poem about the Grenfell victims.

I thought this was a beautiful, moving piece, not intended to depress but make us stop, think, drawn in by bright colours and mull over the message. In a city like London where we are surrounded by art everywhere, noise, busy traffic, and overloaded with adverts and random messages – so it’s amazing to see something like this plastered over a huge wall demanding attention. The initial line grabs your attention, and whole poem is written in the corner of the wall to continue the message.

It’ has only been barely a month since the incident, but the Grenfell fire has rippled outwards in ways that we hadn’t imagined. I have read heart-breaking testimonies from the survivors, accounts from volunteers who went to help, and appeals from those with missing friends and families. Amongst it all has been many questions – how can this happen in our city? How can we stop this happening again? Are there still class divides in this city (the block was filled with immigrants, poor residents and the disadvantages)?

There has been a lot of furor in the news about who will be held accountable, whether there should have been more help offered to the survivors, and even whether the country’s leadership has done enough. I think this is something which I have thought about on a more personal level – in a city like London where we take it for granted that we live in safety, we must re-examine our priorities, and the fact that not everyone has the luxuries that we do. The mural is not just an expression of grief and anger, and a demand for justice, it’s also a request for awareness, for equality, and for a warning that this should not happen again.

“You saw it in the tears of those who survived”

Inspire Yourself

Because there’s nothing like a huge sign to send inspiration messages : )

Bergen & Street Art

Happy Monday-ing (and thank goodness it’s over!) To start the week I thought I’d post some street art – always puts a smile on my face, and makes me keep an eye out for more in the rest of the week!

One of the things I always keep an eye out for (aside from bookshops and libraries!) when I’m in another country is street art, because it’s such a beautiful universal thing which you don’t need to know the language for. Below is some street art which my husband and I found while we were in Bergen, Norway last year, which caught my eye because of some of the messages in the pictures – I think my favourite is the one with a panda and it’s mobile phone though!

Plaistow Street Art by Mr Cenzone

I love living in east London, because of all the colourful corners and walls I always come across. I’m a huge fan of street art (as I’m sure you’ve noticed) and can never go past any without stopping to have a good stare.

This is some artwork by Mr Cenz, a London-based street-artist, whose work I found in Plaistow, east London. They were both slightly hidden away and I managed to see both going past by accident (I saw one while was on a bus and came back later after remembering where it was!)

Apparently this one is called ‘The Wish’, and it’s a beautiful dreamy piece which covers the bottom length of a whole building block (took me a while to get the whole piece in one phoyo!). I love the whirls and contouring in this, as well as the black, grey and white tones on top of the colourful, magical background.

Not far from the above piece is this more sultry looking portrait, a beautiful mix of blues, greens and purples on the side of a shop wall. Again, there’s a beautiful mix of shapes on top of colours, with a very dreamy look to the whole piece that I love.

 

I’ll be keeping an eye out for more pieces around east London, especially some from this artist!

You can also check the artist out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Etsy pages.

Hackney Wick Street Art Galore

I recently had to visit Hackney Wick and was delighted to find myself surrounded by walls and walls of street art in the area. I love that there are so many artist’s works in the area, and that there are so many humorous, satirical and beautiful pieces all over the place. So of course I got a little snap-happy and got to know the area. I spent quite a while wandering around and still don’t think I saw all of the pieces, but I did enjoy exploring!

I’ll let the images speak for themselves below – I love that this is such a colourful area, with plenty of art studios and projects nearby, which is perfect inspiration for any artist : )

Tiger in London Street Art by Otto Schade & Dan Kitchener

So this caught my eye while I was out at work a few days ago, and I just had to stop to take some pictures because of how beautiful and vibrant this looked. The artwork looked pretty familiar – and I realised it was a colloboration of Dan Kitchener (whose intense work I’m in love with) and Otto Schade (I have seen a lot of his ‘ribbon effect’ work around Camden).

It was certainly a beautiful highlight of my day to spot this, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for more vibrant pieces like this!

Camden Town’s Colourful Street Art

I love wandering around London and looking for art-work – street art, sculptures and giant landmarks – so Camden is a beautiful treasure trove for all of the beautiful art work scattered around the town. I won’t write too much, as the pictures really do speak for themselves – dreamy landscapes, satirical cartoons, and bright, rainbow colours pieces covering the whole wall of buildings.

I had a really lovely afternoon discovering these, and will be re-visiting soon enough to look for more – the ones below aren’t even all of the photos I took!

Beautiful Rainy Street Art by Dan Kitchener

I saw this a couple of days ago while wandering around Camden Town, which is rich with beautiful, quirky and huge street art scenes all over the town.

I fell in love with this rainy scene by artist Dan Kitchener, whose work is all over London (and also parts of Europe!) – the bright lights (which reminded me of Tokyo!), rainy reflections on the floor, slick vehicles and plenty of umbrellas – there’s something to stare at in every corner. This piece covers a whole wall along the side of a restaurant in the centre of Camden Town, and looks stunning with its mix of bright colours against a black dark background. Something about all the pedestrians hiding under umbrellas seems like it should be lonely, but instead it is haunting, beautiful and gives a sense of solidarity – there’s plenty of rain and umbrellas in London but we’re all together, perhaps.

I’ll be looking for more of these, but what a beautiful way to enjoy the weekend, hey?

Giant Doggy Mondays

I often have to go out around London town to visit various areas for work, and often stumble across beautiful pieces of street art, unique sculptures and through-provoking posters, graffiti and signs around London which all make it the wonderfully quirky and interesting place that it is.
While running around Canary Wharf area today, and trying to hide from the rain, I spotted this amazing giant street scrawl on the side of a big block of flats by artists Irony & Boe, who are known for their giant pieces around London.

It was just what I needed to brighten up a very wet, grey day and of course, made me stop to take a picture (or three). Something to start this week off, a giant doggy (it’s actually called Chihuahuazilla!) with a little wisdom in its eyes as it looks over the busy traffic lights : )

Writing on the Wall: Currencies of the World

…all on one board. I found this in a little deli hidden away on Green Street, East London, which the proprietor had displayed on the wall, probably to show the different type of customers and currencies he has come across.

I loved how this looked on the wall, a mish-mash of colours, cultures and odd bits all lined up together to form a small piece of art to catch your eye (and probably to remind you to pay for your food!)