Alton Estate Mural Project
Wandsworth Council as a part of the Alton Renewal Plan, commissioned Emergency Exit Arts to curate and produce a series of new community-led public artworks on the Alton Estate. The project aimed to empower local residents by giving them a voice in what kind of artwork goes up in their area, as well as providing opportunities to actively participate in the design and creation of the murals.
The Four Seasons - Adalberto Lonardi
The first mural, The Four Seasons, is transforming Roehampton Library at the Alton Estate into a vibrant celebration of community, culture, and place. Created by visual artist and creative director Adalberto Lonardi, the large-scale mural reflects the estate’s modernist ideals of openness and togetherness while honouring the diverse communities that call it home. Stretching across the library’s tunnel, The Four Seasons traces the passage of a year in Alton through figurative and abstract forms. Developed from extensive research and community workshops, the mural reflects the estate’s strong social fabric and deep-rooted sense of belonging. We worked with three artists each of who'm lead on one of the murals.
The Colours of Alton - Eduard Sacrest
"Made during the half-term holidays by the young people from Alton this mural celebrates the energy, dreams, and creativity of Alton’s young people. Inspired by their ideas, the colourful birds symbolize the vibrant spirit of the community and the joy found in the things they love."
Living Roehampton - Katie Siah
"One theme that was strongly represented throughout the public workshops, was the green spaces in and around the Alton Estate, as well as the nature that can be spotted locally. This became the basis for my mural design. Creating a design I began to experiment with how I could include as many different elements of nature as possible, within the dimensions of the wall that had been selected. Eventually I settled on a design of lots of ‘potraits’ of different plants and animals, with large geometric shapes in the backgroud, to visually imitate the silhouettes of the Alton Estate’s Brutalist buildings. Importantly, all of the nature depicted is based on plants and animals that can be identified in Roehampton. This includes the cherry blossoms on the corner of Danbury avenue, the oak tree outside the Kings Head pub, stag beetles from Putney Heath among many more."
