New artwork has popped up in Cardiff city centre after murals were mistakenly washed away last year. The art, which covered 11 concrete pillars around the former Debenhams store in Cardiff city centre, had been commissioned by business improvement organisation FOR Cardiff.
They were painted by three female artists – Turner Prize nominee Beth Blandford, Amber Forde, and Temeka Davies – who are involved in the PWSH project. Their murals take inspiration from feminism, black women, afro hair, and the Bajan community. The artists said at the time they were "absolutely devastated” the artworks had been removed.
Now, the artists have unveiled new murals, inspired by the original PWSH street art project, at The Capitol Shopping Centre. Commissioned by business improvement organisation FOR Cardiff, the work takes inspiration from feminism, black women, afro hair, and the Bajan community. Read more: The best street art in Cardiff and the stories behind them
The lead artists were supported by a small team of freelance creatives and young people from the ACT training programme who got to create their own artwork throughout the week. A new piece of artwork has been created on an empty shop by Marcus Smith, whose PWSH work you can also see at Metro's, who took inspiration from the students for his design.
FOR Cardiff executive director Adrian Field said: “We’re thrilled to have re-commissioned the PWSH street art project and to see it come to life now in the Capitol Centre.
“Working with such an array of talented local artists has been, and continues to be a pleasure. PWSH is just one of many arts and culture initiatives we will fund and deliver over the coming years as we progress with our plans to centre culture in city centre life.”
The PWSH project was created to enable visual artists with a Cardiff connection to decorate their city centre with artwork that celebrates and represents a breadth of local creative talent and diversity on large public canvasses.
PWSH is an ongoing and ever-evolving project, with long-term artwork on show within the city.
PWSH creator Rachel Kinchin said: “We were blown away by people’s incredible reaction to our project. Many commented that the artwork has brought joy to their day, improved their mental health and encouraged them to explore their own creativity again.
“When we lost the ‘Minsky’s Pillars’ artwork, we were all devastated - but the public reaction was so supportive that we knew we had to re-create these pieces by Beth, Amber and Temeka in some way, shape or form - and we are so proud of what we have created - it’s not easy finding the right spaces within the city centre and the artists and our team have done an incredible job.
“Alongside re-imagining these pieces at The Capitol - we have some exciting and meaningful collaborations and partnerships coming up and we’re applying for funding to continue to bring PWSH to the people and ensure artists and creatives can continue to make work that inspires people and is joyful, whilst also being paid fairly for their ideas and creativity.”
Artist Temeka, who goes by the name Noble Sol, said: “I love how each time I work with PWSH they push me to grow and push for themselves to grow too. This time creating the artwork was different in so many ways, as I already had some experience and knew what public art and my art meant to the public.
“Also, getting to meet the young adults of ACT and teaching them to work on self-portraits and identity was another amazing experience for me as an artist.”
In October, PWSH said it was “absolutely devastated” the artworks had been removed.
“Apparently there has been some sort of city centre cleansing team ‘miscommunication’,” it said.
FOR Cardiff apologised and said: “We were made aware that due to a devastating error involving our cleansing contractor the beautiful artworks on the pillars in the area around the former Debenhams has been removed.
“We offer our sincere and heartfelt apology to the talented artists Beth Blandford, Amber Forde, and Temeka Davies who took the opportunity to brighten up Cardiff and contribute to its vibrant and exciting culture through their artworks and we’re simply gutted for them. It was an honest mistake but unfortunately not a mistake that can be rectified.”
To find out more about the artworks and their locations, visit pwshcardiff.co.uk
