Art Eat Events produced another community mural in April for the Ipswich Waterfront area. Commissioned by Ipswich Borough Council’s Safer Streets campaign funded by the Home Office the core aim of which is to reduce violence against women and girls (VAWG) and increase women and girls’ feelings of safety in public spaces.
For this large scale artwork Art Eat worked with Ipswich based Colombian artist Catalina Carvajal who has delivered a series of workshops to discuss the subject of Safer Streets and inspire the design of the new mural that tackles an important and timely, albeit uncomfortable subject. Members of staff, volunteers and clients working with three community groups took part in the workshops, these were Lighthouse Women's Aid, Suffolk Rape Crisis and Volunteering Matters.
The workshops involved discussions with the artist to explore the Violence Against Women and Girls campaign and the issues that arise around making our streets safer for everyone. The participants engaged in meaningful discussions with the artist and shared their thoughts about tackling unwanted behaviour, visualised and expressed ideas around how to increase their feelings of safety in our public spaces and came up with important messages.
As usual with Art Eat paint-ups, members of the wider community were invited to volunteer and help with the painting. “The painting phase is one of our favourite events of each mural project, creating a lovely positive and friendly vibe where the community can get involved and be a part of a lasting artwork in the town.”
The painting was completed over 10 days between 15th and 24th April 2023 by the artist, Art Eat staff and volunteers including some of the workshop participants who contributed their voices and ideas.
The result is a large-scale artwork on the Ipswich Waterfront and a lasting legacy for the Safer Streets (VAWG) campaign. The vibrant 34m2 hand painted artwork is another addition to the existing murals on display to encourage residents and visitors to Ipswich to enjoy the thriving waterfront space.
Iona Hodgson, Co-Director of Art Eat Events says “Art Eat congratulates Catalina Carvajal for an impressive design, interpreting and amplifying the groups voices - on a very sensitive subject matter. We’d like to say a special thank you to the groups that gave their time to the creative workshops. As well as the community safety team at Ipswich Borough Council for their and support during this project.”