To celebrate the launch of the new LEGO Disney Castle and honour 100 years of Disney, London based artist Lakwena Maciver has unveiled her latest artwork, Kaleidowaves, a 4.5m tall castle window inspired by the new LEGO set. The Kaleidowaves mural was unveiled in London with Lakwena’s children, Aroko aged four and Makelo aged six, placing the last of the mural’s 220,000 LEGO bricks in place.
Lakwena said: “When I lived in Ethiopia as a child in the 90s, there wasn’t access to many films, so we would watch Disney videos on repeat. Later, when living in the UK, I also remember visiting my uncle in the Ashdown Forest, which inspired Winnie the Pooh, and we would play Pooh Sticks on Pooh Bridge. And now, with my young family, films like The Lion King offer a nice way for me to talk to my children about our ancestral homeland. The idea of magical possibilities that Disney captures so well definitely had a big impact on my imagination as a child, and has therefore informed my adult work and life as an artist.”
Lakwena’s design is part of a series of four murals created with two other artists that were inspired by Disney as children, Paris-based Amy Jones and US-based artist Kristin Texeira. The murals feature some of their favourite Disney characters from the last 100 years including Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Woody, Ariel, Tiana, Mirabel, Buzz Lightyear and Daisy Duck, who also now feature in LEGO Disney sets, surrounded by the artists’ own unique style.
