Get Walls

A citywide mural project designed to add vibrancy and culture to previously uninspiring spaces. Raise the profile of local emerging artists amongst internationally known professional artists.

Problem

Norwich is a historic city with many listed buildings which has made it harder for public street art to flourish as well as in other more modern cities. However there was some large, empty and rather ugly blank canvases that were screaming out for a new lease of life. My friend Frazer and I took the opportunity to change this.

Solution

Fellow street-art fanatic, Frazer and I co-founded a project called ‘Get Walls’. The idea was simple… To 'get walls' that we could legally paint murals on in and around Norwich. With the goal being to brighten up dull spaces whilst providing a platform for emerging local artists to have their work seen alongside professional, internationally known street artists. We spent a week exploring the city in search of spaces that we felt were right for the project. We shot photos of these and presented our ideas to the local council and was granted permission and funding to go ahead.

Results

The project was given the go-ahead and we successfully painted two large murals in the city. We invited the artist duo 'toasters' over from Amsterdam to launch the project and followed this by commissioning local emerging artist Anmar Mirza for the second. We picked up press features on both murals and everyone we spoke to loved the positive difference it made to the spaces. Frustratingly the project was stunted as someone else took the idea and our walls! Cheeky but very flattering.