Bristol’s Street Art Scene: Driving social awareness in the local community

BY GEORGIA CASIMIR

“It is a way of bearing witness for the thousands of displaced people stuck in Calais trying to reach the UK, whose voices are so often silenced or ignored.”

Whether you’ve just arrived in Bristol or you’ve been here for years, there’s no doubt that you will have come into contact with your fair share of street art.

In fact, Bristol is arguably the street art capital of the UK, being the birthplace of both Banksy and Upfest (Europe’s largest street art and graffiti festival), its influence as a city in this sphere of creativity is indisputable. 

By Brazilian artist Kobra

Photo credit: tomvlachynsky

The street art in Bristol often carries a prominent political message, and using it as a vehicle for social awareness is something that I find particularly fascinating.

Art that is integrated into the very fabric of the city, that is often anonymous, illegal and contentious, is perhaps the most reflective of the complex and intersectional issues it highlights.

Street art is, due to its very nature, free, completely accessible and something that anyone can do; therefore, what better mouthpiece is there to call attention to the parts of society that we would often rather ignore?

Collab piece by My Dog Sighs & Snub

The artists listed here today are such people that demand our time and energy be, however momentarily, directed towards issues of environmentalism, political corruption and the dehumanisation of refugees (and more).

They are pioneers of social awareness, using their immense talent to incredibly honourable ends: awe-inspiring, important and absolutely vital, art.

WINDRUSH MURAL, ST. PAULS (unknown artist)

This huge mural on the side of a house in St Pauls was created to mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the “Windrush generation” in the UK in 1948.

These people were the first in a huge spike of government-funded immigration post-WWII (an attempt to counter the severe labour shortages facing the country); the campaign was advertised as “the Mother Country needs you” and, being promised work, 802 Caribbean citizens travelled to the UK in search of work and the promise of a better life.

Instead, they were met largely with hostility, contempt and jobs far below their skill level. 

Despite this, many stayed and persevered and managed to forge better lives for themselves; however, the 2018 “Windrush scandal” exemplified that the hostility of those in power to immigrants is perhaps not as far behind us as many of us would like to believe.

Hundreds of British citizens who were either a part of the Windrush generation or were their ancestors were threatened with deportation, had pensions and benefits cut or were detained, with at least 83 being wrongly deported. 

This mural, therefore, acts both as a celebration of the sacrifice this generation made, as well as being a reminder to those in power of the wrongs that were enacted, and most importantly, that we will not forget them.

It is not a crime to want a better life (@PritiPatel), and I think we’d all do well to remember that, no matter how much our “unbiased” news sources seem to want us to forget.

CONVERSATIONS FROM CALAIS (@conversationsfromcalais)

Conversations from Calais is a project started by Mathilda Della Torre, a volunteer from the Calais “Jungle”, and aims to “re-humanise those affected by the refugee crisis.”

The project, which has now reached over 60 countries, involves volunteers submitting stories from their experiences in Calais with refugees, which are the pasted onto the walls of our public spaces.

“It is a way of bearing witness for the thousands of displaced people stuck in Calais trying to reach the UK, whose voices are so often silenced or ignored.”

The stories range from descriptions of everyday life in the camp, to reminiscing on the refugees’ pasts and families, to failed attempts at seeking asylum, covering such a spectrum of emotion that you cannot help but feel how human their disappointment is.

They are hard to read but they are necessary; they are a form of street art that is very different to some of the very intricate murals around Bristol, but I find that their simplicity adds to the beauty and conveys the difficulty of their messages.

For anyone who wants to spread Mathilda’s message to Bristol, you can download and print posters from the website, alongside instructions on how to paste them up (https://www.conversationsfromcalais.com).

GAGE GRAPHICS: Time’s Running Out

Finally, a newer mural created by Gage Graphics in Arnos Vale at first glance depicts a remarkable underwater scene surrounded by a glowing cosmos.

However, upon closer inspection, the water is choking with plastic and fish are wearing gas masks, whilst the human’s landscape at the top is industrially thriving. The lower down the hourglass you go, the sicker the animals are, until they trickle into sand. 

The message is clear, time is running out, and there are plans to write “Deadline: 2030” at the bottom. The environmental crisis is not just pending, it’s happening, and according to the International Organisation for Migration, there will be a predicted 200 million climate refugees by 2050.

As much as these messages are incredibly hard-hitting and difficult to bear, it’s important to remember that these examples of street art are fighting against these things occurring.

And if we are to all die in flames surrounded by the ruins of our own commercialised, capitalist, industrialist greed, I consider it an honour to be a part of a city whose citizens fought so vehemently against it. Viva la revolucion kiddos. 

P.S. if you know who did the Windrush mural – let us know please!