Where are the women
Celebrating women mural artists of the past 40 years and inspiring the next generation
In London, there are more statues of animals than there are of named women and still very few artworks by women artists in London’s public spaces.
Now, a stunning mural at 400 Clapham Road by artist 7th Pencil celebrates the unsung work of London's women mural artists from the 1970s to the present day.
The work is the culmination of their project, ‘Where are the Women’, funded by the Mayor of London’s Untold Stories programme.
Inspiring the next generation
The project also aims to inspire the next generation of women artists to think big and to have the confidence to make ambitious public art.
It brought together two women's mural collectives: London Wall from the 1980s; and WOM from the 2020s.
These groups compared their mural-making experiences - the difficulties as well as the exhilarating successes - and examined how things have changed over the interim four decades.
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Celebrating a legacy of murals
Many of the murals painted by women in the 1980s are fading or have been covered over. Their story is largely unknown or forgotten.
A guided tour of existing local murals with a focus on those by women, from the London Mural Preservation Society, highlighted the spectacular legacy of these works as well as what it took to make them.
Community workshops
Free workshops in mural painting were run by WOM at Clapham Deep Shelter.
Artists such as Morganico, Paul and Linda Butler, Louise Vines as well as the Greenwich mural workshop, well used to running art workshops in public spaces, provided expert help around practicalities such as scaffolding, permissions, and materials.
These workshops provided a safe creative space for the community to experiment and ask questions.
We’ve been looking at this dilapidated ruin for decades and now we have this beautiful work of art.
Thank you, it’s so beautiful.
Untold Stories: uncovering fascinating stories of diverse Londoners across the city
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