Mural painted for family-friendly festival ‘blacked out’ less than three days later
The art was entitled ‘Dancing on Botanical’ and featured two cranes in front of a red sun beside colourful typography of the word ‘Botanical’.
The mural beforehand
Hannah Constance (31), who painted the cranes, said there was “nothing controversial” about the art and has been left upset and “mostly confused” as to why it has only lasted a few days.
“These pieces were commissioned in collaboration with the Open Botanic Festival and we had permission from the owners of the fence to do so,” she said.
“They weren’t political or offensive in anyway.” The company who owns the billboard that sits above where the mural was painted — JC Decaux — said they were responsible for painting it black.
A spokesperson said it is “their policy” to paint the area below billboards black “so as not to detract from the advertisement”.
“The feather edging under the billboard is actually the property of JC Decaux,” they explained.
“And it is our policy to maintain it and to paint it black so that it doesn’t distract from the advertisement.
“In this case it was a genuine misunderstanding and the landlord had given permission to paint the mural, but no one advised us, and they weren’t in a position to give permission.”
The mural when it was painted black
The family-friendly Open Botanic Festival took place last Sunday and Hannah, along with another local artist Zippy, created their art on the day with many onlookers praising and complimenting their work.
Hannah, whose work normally depicts animals or landscapes, said that she wanted to paint cranes to reflect the Asian community in that area.
“There are lots of Asian supermarkets and shops in that area, so this piece was dedicated to them; it was something for the community and not political at all,” she said.
“It was just strange because sometimes when you do this sort of work you get someone saying something bad, but we didn’t on the day, and there was a full-on storm going on at the same time!
“We must have spent five hours in the rain that day trying to complete it.
“It’s a bit disheartening that it only lasted a couple of days, there is no animosity towards the company for doing this, but I just wish they had maybe notified us first or explained why they did it.
“We could have worked together instead of just destroying the art completely.”
Adam Turkington from Seedhead Arts helped organise the painting of the murals for the two artists in conjunction with the Forward South Partnership who were putting together the festival.
He said: “Who really owns what we see? Who controls the aesthetic of our city? Is the only thing we’re allowed to see is someone selling something? Is everything monetised and transactional? Are we not allowed to have some beautiful art that’s not trying to sell us things?”