Brixton murals

The Brixton murals are a series of murals by local artists in the Brixton area, in south London. Most of the murals were funded by Lambeth London Borough Council and the Greater London Council after the Brixton riots in 1981.

The murals portray politics, community and ideas. Many are now in a state of disrepair and some are no longer there.

The remaining murals are within walking distance of each other.^[1]

Brixton murals history

• Slade Gardens Adventure Playground Association Mural,^[2] Lorn Road, by Gordon Wilkinson and Sarah Faulkner – 1982. This mural features the people who worked and played at the adventure playground. It is a snapshot in time of the surrounding buildings, playground structures and local residents.
• Stockwell War Memorial,
  Jean Charles de Menezes^[5]
  to the memorial, which was removed soon after.
• Children at Play^[6] Stockwell Park Walk, by Stephen Pusey – 1982. This mural was created by Pusey in 1981 and completed in 1982. It is found on the back of the Brixton Academy building. The mural commission had been created on the back of the Brixton riots of 1981. It shows a mixed group of young people hanging out and having fun. It was to portray the natural racial harmony that could be found between the children in the local schools. It is painted in Keim Silicate. At 30 feet by 104 feet, it is one of London's biggest murals.^{[citation needed]}
• Mural 1,^[7] Bellefields Road, by London Wall Public Art – 1987. Funded by Lambeth Council and the GLC. It features much reference to the area such as a bell for Bellefields Road and a pile of bricks for Brixton. There is also the symbol of the recreation centre and an old theatre featured in the mural.^[8]
• Mural 2,^[9] Bellefields Road, by London Wall Public Art with the help of the local artists Eugene Palmer and John Saward, painted in 1988. It features a seaside scene and was funded by Lambeth council, the GLC and BP.^{[citation needed]}
• Brixton railway station Murals 1 and 2^[10] These two murals were painted by a mural partnership called Anchor Designs made up of two local artists, Karen Smith and Angie Biltcliffe, who painted many more murals in the borough and were funded by Lambeth Council.^{[citation needed]}
• Nuclear Dawn,
  Houses of Parliament. The people in the bunker were updated when the restoration was carried out.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Big Splash,
  Time Out put it in their top 10 London murals.^[14]
• Mauleverer Road Mural[15] by Jane Gifford, Ruth Blench, Mick Harrison and Caroline Thorp – 1983. Inspired by Brockwell Park Garden.
• The Windmill Mural,^[16] Lyham Road by Positive Arts was created in May 2012 and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It was based on the design of the previous Windmill mural^[17] by Mick Harrison and Caroline Thorp, which was created in 1983. This mural was badly damaged and had faded. Both murals tells the history of Brixton's Windmill, the only inner-city windmill still surviving in London.^{[citation needed]}
• The Boat, St George's Residence on Railton Road, viewed from Effra Parade, was recently re-discovered. Believed to be painted by the London Wall Mural Group – 1988. It now has many plants in front of it so it is hard to view.^{[citation needed]}
• Say It Loud, painted in 2017 by Breeze Yoko in Blenheim Gardens, features a young girl holding a megaphone.^[18]
• In 2018 the artist known as Dreph completed a large mural depicting Michele Obama in Dorrell Place.^[19]
• Since 2018, Art on the Underground has commissioned artists to create a temporary mural at Brixton tube station following the legacy of the murals.^[20] Artists have included Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Aliza Nisenbaum, Denzil Forrester and Joy Labinjo.^{[21][22][23][24]}

Lost Brixton murals

The murals listed above can still be seen, but some murals are no longer intact.^[25]

• A mural on Rushcroft Road has all but gone, with only a corner still visible. It is called "Peace" and was painted in 1983 by Dale McCrea as part of the GLC for peace year.^[26]
• A mural called Golden Garden was designed by London Wall Art Group and could be found on Coldharbour Lane. It was commissioned by the Brixton branch of
  Woolworths to cover over riot-damaged windows.^[27]
  The mural was funded by the Departent of Environment and Lambeth Council Partnership.
• A mural was painted on Vining Street. It was covered up by the same housing development which obscured the Rushcroft Road mural. Several inches of the mural can still be seen on the left-hand side of the mural. It is called War and was painted in 1983 by Pauline Harding as part of the GLC for peace year.^[26]

Brixton murals gallery

These murals can still be seen in Brixton.^[28]

Notes

Sources

• Researched by Ruth L. Miller – all information from archives, websites, interviews with Brixton locals and mural artists done in preparation for the Brixton Mural Walk on 10 May 2008.
• Christine Thomas
• Stephen Pusey
• Timeout
• Jean Charles de Menezes in Stockwell Memorial
• Lambeth Council
• Stockwell Park Slade Gardens
• Sarah Faulkner
• Positive Arts

External links

• Brixton Mural photographs on Flickr (tagged "brixtonmurals")
• Brixton Mural Map by Art on the Underground
• An eye witness account by the 'We Want to Riot, Not To Work Collective', 1982, from Urban75
• London Mural Preservation Society