Children at Play Mural

Children at Play - Brixton

Children at Play mural

Children at Play mural was painted by the artist Stephen Pusey of ethnically diverse children playing together. It was decided that the location of the mural was to be painted alongside the then Astoria cinema, now known as Brixton Academy. The mural is 30ft by 40ft, and is one of London’s largest murals. It is painted with Keim Silicate, which should allow for the mural to withstand wear and tear from the elements for up to 100 years. The artist used a grid method to the painting so that it would be hard to know what the painting was before it was completely finished. It was finished in 1982 and opened by the then Mayor of Lambeth, and underneath the mural there is a plaque “to commemorate the piece and those who gave financial support”, as multiple organizations funded the 23,000-pound piece. Recently the mural has been retouched due to water damage, and has had being repainted in some areas to brighten up the colours. The muse for the painting was decided by local residents who would have to look at it every day, as they wanted something to depict the struggle of the 1981 Brixton Riot. They did not want to have something so negative be painted and stood reminder to the neighbourhood so instead “it was decided to paint images of local children playing together to show how racial harmony existed naturally between them”. The importance was to show the hopes of a positive outcome that would come after the riots and the desire to work towards a racially harmonious society.

"Children At Play." London Mural Preservation Society. Accessed November 09, 2017. http://londonmuralpreservationsociety.com/murals/children-play/.

Craig, Zoe. "These Are The Murals Of Brixton." Londonist. March 29, 2017. Accessed November 09, 2017. https://londonist.com/london/art-and-photography/brixtons-murals.

Howe, Darcus. "After the Brixton riots of 1981, Caribbean migrants acquired a sense of belonging." New Statesman (1996), 2005., 67, Literature Resource Center, EBSCOhost (accessed November 9, 2017)

"How smouldering tension erupted to set Brixton aflame – archive, 1981." The Guardian. April 13, 1981. Accessed November 09, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1981/apr/13/fromthearchive.

John, Cindi. "The legacy of the Brixton riots." BBC News. April 05, 2006. Accessed November 09, 2017. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4854556.stm.

Importance

Tensions between minorities and the police were on the rise in 1981, with the introduction of the 'sus' law which allowed police officers to stop and search anyone they found suspicious. In hopes of cutting down crime in Brixton, police implemented Operation Swamp, and within six days they stopped over 1,000 people in Brixton in order to search them. Tensions alright at an all-time high, rumors spread of police brutality against a black man and later that night an arrest, started the riot. The rioting was believed to be a sign of the times, a "mixture of high unemployment, deprivation, racial tensions and poor relations with police"[1] were believed to be the key circumstances that led to rioting within Brixton as well as other British cities. A report by Lord Scarman stated that "racial disadvantage was a fact of current British life"[2] but there was no institutional racism within the police force. Scarman suggested there was only racial prejudice, but in later years Lord Macpherson would state the opposite, that there was obvious racism within the institutions in Brixton as well as around Britain. The Brixton riot of 1981 allowed for some progress of minorities politically, and "underlying social problems which are at the heart of many of the disturbances"[3] throughout England have come to be of the utmost importance in Parties political agenda. The 'Children at Play' mural was a response to the 1981 riot, as it was the first major riot the community had experienced. As a way to try and bring peace and harmony to the community, the artist and those who elected its theme, wanted to remember the struggle of 1981 riot, but wanted it to be portrayed more positively. The creation of the mural, was the Lambeth's councils attempt at trying to reconcile the peace between minorities and other ethnicities. It can be said that they do not address the issue of the police in this mural but rather wanted to focus on trying to bring harmony back to the community. This mural can be seen as an attempt to show that the council acknowledged what happened in 1981, but wanted to move past it, although the mural did not bring much reconciliation as only four years later, another major riot broke out.

[i] "Children at Play." London Mural Preservation Society. Accessed November 09, 2017.http://londonmuralpreservationsociety.com/murals/children-play/.

[ii] "Children At Play." London Mural Preservation Society. Accessed November 09, 2017. http://londonmuralpreservationsociety.com/murals/children-play/.

[iii] John, Cindi. "The legacy of the Brixton riots." BBC News. April 05, 2006. Accessed November 09, 2017. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4854556.stm.

[iv] IBID

[v] IBID

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