Culture For A Changing City

Rich Mix, Shoreditch, London

 This Autumn, we launched our second collaborative public artwork with Rich Mix, titled Culture for a Changing City Community Mural.

The mural is a celebration of Tower Hamlets coming out of lockdown and its community coming back together, welcoming back local residents by reflecting the rich mix of people and cultures that make up the borough.

Over 100 pieces of artwork combined into one gigantic mural

People with a personal connection to Tower Hamlets shared their stories with us, each describing an object that was meaningful to them, reflecting their identity or cultural heritage. We collected these digitally as well as in person at a series of Paint the Change art workshops hosted at Rich Mix, or at OnRedchurch’s Street Fest in August, where photographer Nigel R Glasgow took portraits of locals and fest goers.

Award-winning street artist ATMA combined the portraits and objets in one gigantic mural collating over 100 pieces of artwork.

Here are some of the Tower Hamlets locals featured on the mural:

Halima Khanom, portrait by Nigel R Glasgow, adapted by ATMA

“My family are originally from Bangladesh – my Mum and Dad arrived in the ’60s and ’70s – and my Mum would very proudly wear a saree in all her years she lived here. I think it’s a very visual representation of the Bangladeshi community in the local area. I just love the saree, I think there’s a universality about it, it suits everyone.”

“Halima’s portrait has been created by repeating and multiplying patterns found in sarees, her chosen object. She brought a pale pink saree to the community workshop, so I opted for this as the principal colour.”

Mr Gee, portrait, adapted by ATMA

“I’m reciting a poem on stage in front of a live crowd. Doing what I love to do and loving every minute of it!”

“Mr Gee is a man of words, so I couldn’t resist to compose his portrait out of hundreds of letter forms, creating an abstract texture so that only words ‘visual’ interpretations could create.”

Suresh Singh, portrait, adapted by ATMA

“Mum was affectionate and warm. She was a large woman who was very cuddly and I would always be hugging her. As the youngest boy, I spent all my time with her. She washed my hair every morning in the kitchen and every evening in front of the fire. It was a ritual – undoing the plait, combing the hair forward and washing it. Sometimes she would wash it with yoghurt, then massage mustard oil all the way.”  – an excerpt from Suresh Singh: Author of A Modest Living: Memoirs of a Cockney Sikh, published by Spitalfields Life.

“Such a beautiful story from a few decades ago deserved to be hand drawn.”

Mr Jones, portrait by Nigel R Glasgow, adapted by ATMA

We met and photographer Mr Jones during OnRedchurch’s Street Fest, where he was running a free bicycle repair stand next to ours.

“Mr Jones has used tools and spanners for decades, so I wanted to use repetition of the object to create his portrait. A little bit like paying homage to each time he picks a spanner to fix a bike.”

Linda Ouazar, couscousière

“As participant in our family workshops, Linda drew a stunning couscousière, traditional cooking tool from North Africa (Algeria in this case) to make couscous. Every woman would decorate their own couscousière and pass it to the next generation.”

Vic Roberts, portrait by Nigel R Glasgow, adapted by ATMA

“Well, I’ve always loved a cowboy hat – since I was a kid. But it’s not the kind of hat you can wear in London without looking like a tit. But the one I’m pictured in, for the mural is an Open Road. Now that’s a hat that can be worn in London. It gets a lot of compliments. It can also be worn hiking, but if I do I do tend to get mistaken for a park ranger. I was asked about trails, bears and mountain lions countless times while we were hiking in Glacier National Park. The Open Road turned out to be quite the ranger hat in Victoria Park too, my wife and I volunteered to work at the park at the beginning of lock down, while we were at home in London.”

Yusra, self portrait

“I see myself as a leader for positive change, someone who is hopeful and will use their creativity to benefit others.”

Zahra, self portrait

“Each part of my portrait represents different things about my personality. For example my hair represents curiosity while my mouth relates to my zesty personality.”

Dominic, photograph, adapted by ATMA

“Bethnal Green is our home and two of the best days of our lives were here at home in Bethnal Green; getting civil partnered surrounded by animals at Spitalfields Farm and adopting the two rescue hounds pictured (Denise and Claudine). I’ve lived here for over 20 years and I’m constantly amazed and inspired by the diverse, creative and supportive community that I live amongst.”