The National Lottery Community Fund has supported a new mural inspired by blockbuster MARVEL film, Black Panther. Black British artist EVEWRIGHT led 16 young people to design a new mural through online workshops, creating an exciting creative activity during the lockdown and the mural was painted last week in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Art Eat Events CIC managed the community mural for the Ipswich Waterfront area. It was created with young people in collaboration supported by 14 local youth and community organisations including Swerve Sunday Ipswich, 4YP Suffolk Young People's Health Project, Catch 22, Future Female Society, Ipswich Community Media, IO Radio, Outreach Youth, Staying Close, Out Loud Music, Karibu, Rock Paper Scissors as well as Suffolk Libraries and Ipswich & Colchester Museum Service.
EVEWRIGHT delivered online workshop sessions in June from his studio in Essex via video link where ideas for the new mural were developed with young people in Ipswich.
The mural is inspired by MARVEL's Black Panther film and is created in association with The Power of Stories exhibition which could take place at Christchurch Mansion in 2021. The mural was painted by Philip Melling and 26 volunteers; the young people who were workshop participants, a few people passing by, and members of Art Eat Festival Community Committee during 5 days in July 2020.
EVEWRIGHT said: “The Black Panther film is loved by many young people, and it came from the original Black Panther movement, which was about black people helping and educating themselves and their children. So, in the making of the mural project, I’m guiding young people across all ethnicities to explore ‘power’; who holds the power, self-empowerment, the idea of ‘hero’ and what today’s heroes look like. The mural was youth-led messaging - It allowed young people to get involved in painting their own messages on the wall”
“Emory Douglas created a lot of the Black Panther posters, and I loved his posters when I was a kid. I’m now a graphic artist by training, so the young people will look at graphics and art of that time, and come up with a mural that represents not only the message of what was going on then but also how we can dovetail messages relevant to present times, including that of current events, triggered by the killing of George Floyd.
A film was made by local media company Red Cactus Media and photos were taken by eminent Ipswich-based photographer John Ferguson. Art Eat Events CIC is very grateful for the support of local artist John D Edwards.
Art Eat would like to thank all the young people who took part in this project and helped to create such an amazing piece of urban art for Ipswich.
Art Eat Events CIC Is an independent not-for-profit arts organisation and events company which produces events that celebrate community, encouraging cohesion and connection through art. It is run by Daisy Lees from Arts La’Olam www.la-olam.com and Iona Hodgson from We Create Projects Ltd www.wecreateprojects.co.uk who came together as independent arts producers to form the community interest company in 2018. To find out more about what we do and sign-up to the newsletter, please visit www.arteatfestival.com
Photo by John Ferguson
Everton Wright (EVEWRIGHT), a Black British artist, uses a diverse range of media spanning moving-image, drawing, performance, painting and sculpture. Influenced by his heritage his practice explores the relationship between the body, identity, Britishness, and spaces they inhabit in public and virtual realms. Evewright studied at Central St Martins and Middlesex University. He’s exhibited internationally including Royal Academy of Arts, BFI (British Film Institute) and currently creating a site-specific installation to be launched in September 2020 Tilbury Walkway of Memories. Artist EVEWRIGHT: https://evewright.com/biog
