Murals and Public Art on the Brandon

Probably best known for the Henry Moore, Reclining Figure No. 3,  The shopping parade had a (now lost) mural celebrating the Chartists Kennington connection by Anthony Holloway, there were other works by Holloway and Lynn Easthope, some of which have now been lost. Edward Hollamby the original estate architect was very much a fan of using public art to enhance the communal and open  spaces, and there are a few of these that still exist. In particular there us some very ornate tiling at the top of Napier House, and a fibreglass mural, by an unknown artist, in the reception of the Jack Hobbs centre. Some of the original art works can be seen in the gallery below.

We are looking to replace some of these missing art pieces, and have applied ti the Getting Involved Grant fund to engage with a local artist who would lead workshops with our residents to develop some design ideas for new pieces to be commissioned. During the recent filming of the popular Netflix series ‘The Crown’, their set designers needed to recreate a period look to the shopping precinct, and created some murals inspired by the piece in the Jack Hobbs club. They kindly agreed to donate these pieces to us when the filming had finished.

While temporary, this is an addition to a space that was previously a bland white painted wall with out of date signage. Tell us what you think about getting more public art placed on the estate.

We are very much hoping that our ward counsellors, Alice MacDonald, James Coldwell, and Eleanor Kerslake will actively support the above initiatives and use what influence they have to ensure some joined up thinking by the various LB Southwark departments to work together to help make these plans a reality. We have asked all three counsellors for a comment, and are still awaiting a response…..