Giant scrabble mural painted-in Hotwells

Anna Haydock-Wilson and Amy Hutchings share a passion for community, inspiring kindness and positivity. Upon completion of their most recent project, a community giant scrabble mural, they explain how the artwork came to be.

The two artists have been working together for many years now and were influenced by the 2018 project Art Within the Cracks to create the new scrabble style art piece, that raises awareness around equality.

The other factor inspiring the art piece was Anna’s son and his walk to school, saying: “My son went to Hotwells school and I noticed every day when I walked him to school it was just grey around here.”

Creating the ‘giant scrabble’ mural was a way to involve the the Hotwells community and give people a chance to express themselves.

“Conversations about local politics would arise and words would come from our conversations,” says Amy. “Some people could just offer words as they walked by or even join in with painting. Children would help out too.”

Anna has spent a lot of time with the Hotwells and Cliftonwood Community Association who have put lots of work into the piazza, where the mural is located, to make it more welcoming and a greener space.

“I think what is really special about this is that it’s a genuine community space,” says Amy. “It’s got things used by the community in so many different ways.”

Anna and Amy spoke about making the piazza a space for teenagers as well and encouraging young people to create art. They have plans to make a dedicated graffiti wall for young people to discourage tagging and hateful words being sprayed across the area.

“This unmanaged urban space is a space that is free for people to use,” says Amy. “In today’s society everything has a purpose so all of these boundaries are around us all the time. This unmanaged space helps to break those boundaries and lets the community be free.”

Source: https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/features/giant-scrabble-mural-painted-in-hotwells/