Making Street Art History: Printing one of the largest murals in London

 Paint the Change is proud to announce a four-storey crowdsourced mural celebrating the NHS – featuring more than 200 flowers drawn by members of the public – in partnership with Rich Mix cultural foundation and community hub in Shoreditch, at 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA.

Titled 200 Nationalities, One NHS, the giant artwork by award-winning street artist ATMA celebrates the diversity of the NHS and frontline workers, featuring portraits of a young Londoner, an NHS health worker and hundreds of hand-drawn flowers crowdsourced from across the United Kingdom.

The mural is made up of 136 individual vinyl adhesives applied to the building’s award-winning moveable aluminium louvres – serving as a reminder of London’s gratitude to the NHS and its international colleagues for their work during the pandemic.

The new public artwork was co-created with the help of young people across East London in pre-lockdown workshops run by street artist ATMA and celebrated youth mentor Efe Ezekiel.

Paint the Change workshops use an educator-developed curriculum to tackle issues of diversity, inclusion, bullying, and other social challenges. The workshops are designed to empower young people to express themselves constructively and creatively and to become active members of their local communities.

The pandemic forced the workshops online. ATMA and Efe Ezekiel hosted weekly Instagram Live shows featuring special guests such as Ryan Lanji, winner of the Netflix hit show The Big Flower Fight, artists Chila Burman and Pooja Kapoor, actress and art therapist Flor Ferraco, Mystery Jets band member Blaine Harrison, and many others.

The Instagram Live shows also created an opportunity to solicit members of the public to submit their own flower designs to be included in the 200 Nationalities, One NHS mural. Paint the Change received almost 250 flowers over the summer workshops.

Installing a four-storey mural on a facade of moveable aluminium panels took some creative thinking. Artist ATMA, the Paint the Change team and Essex-based digital printers Imaginators collaborated on printing 136 vinyl adhesive prints, each installed on an aluminium panel by abseilers All Areas Access.