Client: Royal Borough of Kingston

Overview

Parking lot to town centre, a transformative community reflective artwork on home and food.

Home on the Hill was commissioned by the Royal Borough of Kingston and New Malden Partnership supported by the Greater London Authority. I engaged with their community and create a mural for their new town center- Jubilee Square. The former car park now showcases a 15M x15M ground mural reflective of the multi-cultural community’s thoughts on food and home. The patterns and colours are 240 individuals responses to the questions I put to them. Surrounding the symbols are 45 various comfort foods people shared including: Tiramisu, Adobo, Lamb Curry, Kimchi, Dark Chocolate to Fish & Chips. My hope is the mural will serve as a visual reminder of the rich diversity in the community and how despite various cultures they are living peacefully together and can seek joy now in this square

Goals

The goals were to engage the users of the space. To dig deep and call on the various stakeholders who make up a small but very diverse community of the town. Not only was I to engage with them meaningfully but also to transform their input into the final artwork giving them ownership and pride and create more unity where there has often been divisions. Also to stay in budget and be eco-conscious considering the work should last two years.

Process

I was connected to a community ambassador who worked with me to create a map of locations, community activities and events where I could engage with my portable mini- workshops. We then set up appointments over 10 days and ended up connecting with 240 individuals across 15 sites. These included the library, the Korean Elders poetry class, the children's after school program, a Tamel bakery, the park the Gym, a streeet festival, etc... My aim was to seem approachable and meet people on their turf. Then I used their information they shared to create the collective work. I had a back and forth with the council and New Malden Partnership leadership over the deisgn and considerations to be as inclusive and as accessible ( for blind, multi-cultural sensitivity ) etc..

Additional Information

New Malden has the largest South Korean community in Europe, and the North Korean community outside of North Korean in the world. It has more recently been home to Hong King refugees, and Tamil migrants. It is a suburb of central London, and historically was built up due to the train line. The term Malden comes from the old english Cross on the Hill - helpful to the artwork design included. Each participant I asked about their relationship to food and home as a common ground despite place of birth. Each recipient received a key chain with the pattern that was deciphered based on their responses to the questions. I then made a copy of the design and colour to include in the mural. Each participant could return to the mural to find themselves on it. It was heart warming to discover that a 80 year old man born in India's comfort food was a Full English Breakfast, or a British woman's go to dish was a curry. The diversity of foods, whose names are in the mural outer edge is both specific and general inviting a conversation with friends and strangers about how they find comfort, home and maybe makes them a bit hungry too! While a temporary project it has furthered connection and become a shared community space for the locals.