All Aboard!

A little while back, our local MP Vicky Foxcroft opened a new mural from one of our London School of Muralism graduates, Amaechi E Anolue. It obviously left quite the impression, because when Vicky came to us with a plan for rejuvenating her Lewisham constituency office, she asked for Amaechi to be a key player.

Him, and a whole lot of local school children…

Teacher Zamzam Hassan, Vicky Foxcroft and Amaechi Anolue in the Background during a workshop where the students were encouraged to express themselves through patterns and play

Exploring the Path to Power through Muralism

We decided to collaborate with local children at Lucas Vale primary school; based just around the corner from Vicky’s office. The school community represents a huge variety of places and backgrounds – offering a real slice of Deptford life.

Throughout the participatory process, we wanted to inspire the children to trust their own artistic instincts and give them the experience of seeing their creative work displayed proudly in their local community.

Our team visited the school, to share special workshops and slowly began building a concept together. We started by asking the children to complete the phrase “if I was an MP, I would…” Predictably, this sparked some pretty hilarious responses, but also gave us great insight into the children’s priorities and how they saw they role of their local representative.

In the next session, we explored the use of patterns and textures from around their classrooms to create collages. This allowed us to weave designs by different children together – creating a beautiful patchwork of their ideas.

Shades of Red

The idea of a double decker bus came to us while we were putting two of the designs together. The more we dug into it, the more we loved the idea of turning Vicky’s office into a visual metaphor for how MPs carry the concerns of local people to parliament. Not to mention, the return route of bringing the heart of power back to the residential streets of Deptford.

Vicky’s bus, ironically located next to the Royal Standard Pub: Destination Parliament

Although the concept was strong, we didn’t want the bus to feel too literal. Rather than painstakingly replicating small details, we settled on using the most distinctive aspects of a classic London bus such as the destination blind (straight to ‘Parliament’!) and the advertising façade for Vicky’s name. To represent Deptford’s amazing mix of people, including the children at Lucas Vale, we focussed on merging textures and patterns together, creating an abstract image that offers new details with every look.

We also enjoyed the opportunity to merge a classic shade of ‘Labour red’ with the iconic red of London’s buses. We were intrigued by how this took the office from feeling branded by one political party to invoking the most welcoming and accessible mode of transport.

The result is something that hopefully reminds passers-by that everyone is welcome at the office, while still reflecting the area’s Labour values.

We’re so proud of this piece and of Amaechi’s full-circle journey with the London School of Muralism.

Perhaps, in years to come, we’ll be welcoming the children of Lucas Vale to the course. Or even seeing them take their own journey to parliament.