For Immediate Release

Contact Information
Zoe Mulholland
Public Relations Manager
zmulholland@cityhall.bm
441-537-7072

Peaceful Art Protest Mural Project

Hamilton – December 11^th, 2020

The City of Hamilton and the Bermuda National Gallery are pleased to announce their partnership on the Peaceful Art Protest Mural Project. The Peaceful Art Protest was conceptualized by former Bermuda Biennial artist Rachel Swinburne in response to the global Black Lives Matter movement, a movement that serves to protest against and eradicate the injustices inflicted upon the global black community. The project is a collaboration of the City’s VIVID Public Art Initiative and the Bermuda National Gallery’s Let Me Tell You Something 2020 Bermuda Biennial, sponsored by Bacardi Limited. 

Ahead of the march in June, the Peaceful Art Protest issued an open call for artwork by artists of all ages to express their solidarity and support of the BLM movement.  A photograph by Meredith Andrews, translated into a mural by Dennis Joaquin, will be installed on Front Street, near No. 1 Car park, the original meeting place for the march and where it commenced its route through the streets of Hamilton. A second mural, created by primary school children will be installed at the top of Queen Street, near City Hall.

Jessica Astwood, the City’s Director of Marketing and Communications, said of the partnership, “These murals are an incredible addition to the more than twenty pieces of public art that brighten areas around the City. We’re humbled to have these artworks as part of the VIVID Public Art Initiative, they commemorate a time when we, as a nation, marched together for justice and change.”

Peter Lapsley, Director for the Bermuda National Gallery, added, “When we read about The Peaceful Art Protest we were struck by not only the importance of the project but the direct and immediate response the community had, utilizing art as a way of supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. We felt it was crucially important to lend our support in some way to give this project broader reach and would like to thank artist Rachel Swinburne as well as the City of Hamilton Vivid Public Art Initiative and team for making the murals possible.”

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