“A picture says a thousand words” Henrik Ibsen
For the longest time, artists have expressed their more risque views via their craft. The ability to get your point across via the use of tone color and lines is a fantastic way to say your piece and remain silently on the fence with your political leanings, faith and ethics. Ever since starting Illumination Wall Art some twelve years ago, I have always enjoyed helping communities and fighting for good causes through my murals. From helping Polish families clean up alleys to painting Vegan charity shops. Illumination Wall Art has never been shy about routing for the underdog and lending a hand to do what’s right even if a little controversial through community mural projects.
One place where this happens quite frequently is Darlington’s Arthur Wharton Foundation.
The Foundation was set up in 2012 by Shaun Campbell as a means to spread the Story of Arthur Wharton and tackle racism via sport and education.
One Love Mural
Going back to December last year I was approached by Shaun to help be part of the protests in Qatar. To put it simply, same-sex relationships are illegal in Qatar so when the World Cup rolled around several teams wore “One Love” armbands to show their support. The wearing of the armbands was also illegal and Fifa quickly banned them.
With the England squad’s decision to not wear them Shaun and I thought we would show our solidarity at home and painted the logo right on the corner of Darlington Arthur Wharton Foundation.
“Football is for everybody. We should all just love each other and get on. That’s what Bob Marley was about when he sang One Love. That one universal love and if we can’t do that through football then what can we do? “
With the mural being right on the corner of the wall it was hard to get the stripes to fit as the perspective would often warp the straight lines. However, with many attempts with masking tape,it worked out for the best. It ended up really crisp and bright too, A simple mural with a simple message.
Anti-Knife Crime Community Mural Projects Redcar
The Prince’s Trust has a big place in my heart, they were really supportive of me in my early days of being self-employed and helped me with funding and advice for setting up Illumination Wall Art. So when my good friend and fellow artist Graham Cleland (Real Graffiti Company)
Asked me to help him lead a project working with volunteers from the Prince’s Trust I jumped at the chance.
The Chris Cave Foundation in Redcar was set up in 2005 by Theresa Cave.
Theresa’s son Chris sadly lost his life due to a knife attack, this tragic event led Theresa to raise awareness of the shocking number of knife attacks in The North East.
This mural started its conception as a huge tree,b ased on the Celtic tree of life; it sits right in the centre of the blacked-out gable end and reaches both high and low with its electric roots and many blowing leaves.
Each leaf was sprayed as a stencil via the Prince’s trust members who chose to commemorate the fallen victims by adding their names. Lee Rigby was just one of the hundreds of names added. Small trinkets were also painted onto the tree branches on special request from the charity founders and friends to give a more personal touch and special easter eggs amongst the vibrant colors and movement.
“I am overwhelmed with the awareness the mural has had on the community of Redcar. People of all ages have taken pics near it and the artwork is phenomenal. I have never seen such a piece do so much in changing mindsets on knife crime in my 20 years of working within this field. We feel every town and city should have a piece created through young people and brought to life by artists” Theresa Cave
The 75th Windrush Mural Darlington: Community Mural Projects
On my most recent visit to the Arthur Wharton Foundation, I was approached by Shaun to create a community mural projects celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Windrush Generation. With lots to do and little time to prepare I decided I needed help and called on my brothers in art from Bish Vegas Legal Graff Mr Skribz and Graham Cleland. For this huge and important task and now three amazing artists we also decided we would need a huge space. Once again it was time to take up the whole corner section of their walls.
Dividing landscape from the famous gray skies of Britain and the vibrant sunsets of the Caribbean sits the Empire Windrush. The One Love mural I painted previously inspired me to use the corner again. The joining line would be right in the center of the boat splitting it in two and having the perspective to replicate the famous boat’s bow.
The surrounding area lends itself perfectly to light lines in the alternating Caribbean colours Red Gold and green. On the left Grey side of the wall, I painted the arrival of twelve founding members of Darlington’s Windrush families. Based on an old photograph it depicts the men stepping off the bus at Darlington station suitcases and papers in hand stepping forward into their new and uncertain lives.
The men depicted here are very vibrant and we utilized bright colours to show off their stylish zoot suits and charisma amongst the cold grey background and Darlington monuments. I wanted to make a point here of having the men stand out to show the colour and new energy they brought to British culture. Without being too heavy-handed with the message of race, I wanted to show that the small-minded issue of black and white wasn’t the point. The strange new black-and-white land is now dwarfed by the magnitude of the Windrush generation.
The ground also has a checkerboard pattern of black and gold. The gold symbolizes the romantic idea of London’s streets being paved in gold,.a lie that was told to Dick Whittington and then mirrored by the Windrush generation hoping to find their fortune in a new country.
On the right-hand side of the wall, a giant seventy-five takes centre stage; the inside of the numbers are made up of the fourteen Caribbean countries. The seventy-five lay nicely against a Caribbean sunrise and silhouetted palm trees. On the adjacent side, I used a curved lamppost to add symmetry and mirror the shape of the trees.
To marry both of the sides together I had Mr Skribs paint a vintage radiogram; these were typical of the era and were made into suitcases for easy transportation.
From the radio gram were the adapted lyrics of Lord Kitchener flowing along the top of the mural like a banner uniting both sides of the art together and hopefully both communities.
“I have been travelling to countries years ago
But this is the place I wanted to know
Darlo is the place for me”
Until next time!
Dan Walls