This summer, Common Wealth has been working with local people and international street artist Helen Bur to bring a new artwork to St Mellons in Cardiff, which was completed over the weekend of 9-10 September.
Called Reclaim The Space, this artwork aims to capture the heart and soul of the brilliant community in St Mellons, featuring over 50 local people having a mass “lie-in” on the grass in the field behind Tesco. Painted along a 24m-long wall, it shows people of all ages (and their dogs) lying on the grass in the sunshine, chucking some shapes… having a cwtch and reclaiming their local natural and urban space.
Inspired by the incredible reaction to Us Here Now (Common Wealth's previous photography project in the same space, made with artist Jon Pountney) and how gutted people were that this project was only temporary, Common Wealth applied for funding from the Arts Council of Wales to bring a more permanent artwork here. We worked with our Sounding Board to find the right artist to commission and to collaborate with our local community.
Helen Bur is a British artist and painter who makes ambitious, beautiful, wall-based paintings of people. She has created outdoor works world-wide - in Europe and the UK, as well as in America, Senegal and India.
Reclaim the Space had been funded by the Arts Council of Wales, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, donations from local people and supported by Tesco St Mellons.