Community Mural Vandalised Days Before Unveiling

The Gloucester Community Brick Project has involved hundreds of people from the local area dropping by to paint their own design on an individual brick as part of a bigger mural, but on Tuesday morning an unknown person decided to deface the brightly painted wall on Westgate Street with political graffiti, which read "Vote Reform UK and all this goes away."  

Organisers say they are disappointed, but still hope to unveil the mural on Friday 10th October as planned, and are encouraging people to return to restore their defaced pieces of art. 

Erin, one of the artist facilitators with the Brick Project had to return as her piece, dedicated to her late grandmother, Sheila Davis, was defaced. Erin said of her grandmother, “She was a really bright character in the town, and she was always scooting up and down the high street, going in to charity shops and seeing friends.”

The initiative was first started by Dan Petley in 2011, when he rolled out the idea in Bristol, hoping this social enterprise would bring people together.  In 2019 it became a community interest project and the idea has now been taken on in several towns across the UK, including Plymouth, Macclesfield and Newport.

The idea was to bring colour and life to a rundown areas in town centres across the UK.  “People would often stop and ask what it was about, and it was our job to get a paint brush in their hands and get them confident enough to start painting," said Dan.

The mural on Westgate Street has around 1,500 brightly painted bricks and passers-by of all ages are encouraged to stop and paint their own piece, representing something about themselves and the city around them.  Whether it be words, a picture, something abstract. The project has proved a huge hit in the town and Dan said he has spent 14 of the 16 days here coordinating contributions to the mural.

Brick Project CIC Create Collaborative Public ArtBrick Project

https://www.brickproject.co.uk