The Community Works Mural

If you’ve been wondering who’s responsible for that riotous pop of colour in Frideswide square, wonder no longer! It’s a brilliant comissioned piece by local artist Nor to help bring some life back to the area and speak a little to the emotional toll of the last year, speaking to our need for connection, and the impact of isolation and solidarity.

The past year of lockdowns has challenged our timeline to get the ground floor up and running, but we still wanted to do something that could bring some life back to the area while we work on the next phase of the project.

Here’s a brief description of Nor’s design and her experience creating the artwork, in her own words.

“I was thrilled to work with Makespace Oxford to create a meanwhile mural for The Community Works, during this moment of pause and anticipation. I wanted to express the feeling of waiting, with a hopeful outlook for future possibilities – speaking both to our current state of being on hold due to Covid, as well as the excitement of seeing what The Community Works will become when it opens. 

The phrase ‘glimpses of a possible future’ is a quote from the local Indymedia archive, a former hub of activist communication which chronicled squatted and DIY spaces in the city. 

The quote speaks to prefigurative politics, the need to make the world we wish to see – a role I hope The Community Works will take on. At the same time, the future many of us are looking forward to at the moment is simply the time when we’ll be able to hug again. 

The figures in the mural are shown inside their own enclosing ‘bubbles’ of personal space and also – more hopefully – overlapping in mutual embrace. I hope that when the new building is unveiled, this theme of connection and solidarity will continue.”

To see more of Nor’s artwork or to get in contact with the artist visit eleanorg.org