Colour comes to Camberwell! New mural launched by school pupils is first of our local identity projects

Pupils from Sacred Heart School art club in Camberwell opened the first mural today to be painted as part of Camberwell’s place identity project.

The Camberwell mural by Lionel Stanhope, famous for his vintage typography, is on Camberwell New Road under the railway bridge right next to Sacred Heart School.

The colours were chosen by the pupils from Sacred Heart who said it best reflected how they see Camberwell – Culture, Colour, Cool, Community, saying that these colours give life to the bridge.

The mural is part of a new Camberwell identity project by SE5 Forum, Camberwell Society and Camberwell Arts with the community and businesses. The aim is to bring to life Camberwell’s unique, vibrant identity and make everyone feel proud of Camberwell.

Jordan Naylor, Art teacher at Sacred Heart explains “We have been studying Bob and Roberta Smith – promoting the arts with text art. So, this mural is really relevant to the pupils’ work and it is great to be involved in something representing Camberwell’s community.”

Eddie Burton, Customer Service Manager at Network Rail, who are funding the mural, said: “Our experience across South London is that these artworks inspire pride in people’s neighbourhoods and encourage people to respect railway bridges and other structures.

The Camberwell identity group, which includes brand experts, artists, teachers, representatives from churches, mosques and estates, is now raising money to install raised lamppost banners along Denmark Hill. The banners aim to lead visitors down the high street to discover the wonderful cafes, shops, green spaces and galleries of Camberwell – please donate any amount here by 12 August to help us reach our target: https://www.spacehive.com/camberwell-banners

The mural has already attracted a local twitter storm: