By Catriona Mossop
As part of Pride in Place Armley and New Wortley two artists have been commissioned to produce murals. These are to expressing the hopes and wishes of local residents.
The Pride in Place Programme is a UK government initiative investing up to £5.8 billion across nearly 400 overlooked neighbourhoods over 10 years. It provides up to £20 million per area via local neighbourhood boards to fund high street revivals, safer streets and green spaces.
The two accomplished artists to be commissioned were Luisa Freitas and Beatriz Brana Rubia (Bea). The two artists became friends through previous community work. They are clearly passionate about community engagement.
Each mural was designed following consultation with the Armley community at events across Armley and New Wortley. Luisa shared one of the ethos of pride in place, “community led change, improvement of their own city”.
The community attending the events were asked two questions.
For the first mural which Luisa created the question was “if you had two million pounds, how would you invest it in Armley?”
Luisa explained that the answers were accumulated and visually displayed in her mural.
She said: “Swimming lessons, maintenance of infrastructure, buildings and roads. people wanted a cleaner Armley, cleaner streets and recycling. People were also interested in learning more about the history and heritage of Armley, they wanted the history to be preserved but they also wanted to learn about it too. So guided tours, books and teachings.”
“There is also a big focus on third spaces, so places for children, adolescents and families to spend time outside work and home, especially safe spaces.”
Bea created a mural from the second question.
“What are your hopes and dreams for Armley in the next 10 years?”
Bea explained there was a wish for “more green spaces, places for planting (vegetables and flowers) and more trees. More safe places, where it is safe for to do activities, as in arts and crafts”, more exercise, and in the middle of the mural is a skate park, along with a basketball court”.
Lucia added: “Many of the parents wanted spaces for their children to learn and grow outside of school.”
If you look at the photographs, you can see the community consultation beautifully represented in the two murals by these inspiring artists.
Both artists were positively surprised about the community in Armley. Luisa said: “There is a lot of hope, people haven’t given up on their city yet”
The paint the artists used for the murals was bought from Seagulls. Seagulls is an organisation that rescues paint from landfill and sells at a reduced price.
The murals are being displayed at Christ Church Armley but hopefully they will be seen at local events, raising awareness of pride in place for Armley and New Wortley. You can watch a video of the murals being painted here.
For more information and a chance to have you say, contact PrideinPlace.Armley@Leeds.gov.uk.
To learn more about the artists
Luisa Freitas
Instagram @this.is.lis
Beatriz Brana Rubro
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Pride In Place, these give me no pride at all, what a waste of money! I see nothing on these than childish drawings, no doubt they cost money, I hate to think how much!! They are horrible. Outdoor spaces could be utilised by cleaning up Armley Moor of dog walkers ban them completely from the moor they leave their dogs residue, irresponsible owners. Children cannot play, have picnics play football or other outdoor activities.
Armley town. Street, get rid of the 2 big planters which are a haven for depositing rubbish. Remove the troughs along the railings for good, another dumping ground for rubbish, get Greggs to clean up their rubbish from sales outside, more rubbish bins the are overflowing remove all old council rubbish CLEAN THE PLACE UP, that would give me pride
And get rid of the Horses, they leave enough residue to fertilise a Farm!! And stop feeding the pigeons, vermin!!! Clean it up it could be utilised better
Where are the comments I put on already?