September 2024
New public artworks for Tottenham Hale
September 2024
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Made By Tottenham
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Made by Tottenham, together with Workman LLP (Tottenham Hale Retail Park), has commissioned local artists to create an artwork for a large hoarding space in Tottenham Hale. A different artwork will be installed every three months for the next year.
The first artwork, unveiled at the end of 2023, was by painter Kate Trafeli. The second, launched in April 2024, was by Kieron Rennie & Hello Morning. The third work went up in June 2024, and was by Rachel Thomson (R.T.) and the last artwork installed in September 2024 is by Xavier Segers.
The new public art commission aims to:
- Bring an old hoarding space back into use and improve the public realm.
- Use this hoarding space to showcase art instead of advertising.
- Create a new paid commission opportunity for local artists.
- Offer local artists space to show their work in a very visible, high-footfall location.
- Brighten-up the area for the enjoyment of residents and commuters.
The current instalment of the project is by Xavier Segers who has written the following text about this work:
"This mural is a tribute to the beauty and resilience of nature, with a focus on the local wetlands and marshes in and around Tottenham with their lush ecosystems.
"Dominated by deep, rich greens, the artwork comes alive with towering flowers, dense vegetation, and flowy water representing the river Lea. In the foreground, native wetland animals—such as herons, fish, insects and a fox—move gracefully through their natural habitat.
"A big orange sun and a small orange moon are focal points in this green tapestry, noting how transformative the day and night are in these ecosystems, bringing out different animals and circadian behaviours.
"On the left of the mural we see the front part of a boat with a box of chickens, this is a nod to the logo of Tottenham Hale station. The logo designed by Edward Bawden, depicts a woman with her chickens and a dog being propelled across a river in a ferry boat by a ferryman with a pole-punt.
"At its core, the mural serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving these vital ecosystems, celebrating the biodiversity, beauty, and serenity that wetlands bring to our world. It’s a living, breathing snapshot of nature’s green heart."
About Xavier Segers:
Xavier Segers is an award-winning illustrator and designer based in London. His work is heavily inspired by his love for nature, surrealism and his mixed Belgian South-Korean heritage. His artwork invokes wonder through his intricate and playful style. Having a wide range of clients from big brands to cultural entities, has pushed his versatility and multidisciplinary approach to his illustrations and visual identity projects. Through his personal work he explores themes dealing with identity, hybridisation and mental health.
The first artwork on the Ferry Lane hoarding, unveiled at the end of 2023, was by painter Kate Trafeli. The second, launched in April 2024, was by Kieron Rennie & Hello Morning. The last instalment of the artwork is by Xavier Segers.
The new public art commission aims to:
Bring an old hoarding space back into use and improve the public realm.
Use this hoarding space to showcase art instead of advertising.
Create a new paid commission opportunity for local artists.
Offer local artists space to show their work in a very visible, high-footfall location.
Brighten-up the area for the enjoyment of residents and commuters.
Kate Trafelli, the maker of the first work said:
“This work is a semi-abstract and symbolic mural montage depicting Tottenham Hale over many years. It includes the interlacing of the waterways, marshes and animals in the area who have co-existed with humans over many centuries. From pre-Norman times Tottenham Hale and the River Lea has been utilised and lived in by an evolving ecosystem that is part of the greater London area. The foxes in the mural are symbolic of this co-existence as they have always been a part of the urban streets of the area, and have adapted to the now heavily urban nature of Tottenham Hale.
"This area has gone through enormous change over many centuries, including difficult social and economic upheaval and now, regeneration. This mural explores that layering of lives and shapes over many centuries and cultures in a colourful, life-affirming manner. The mural aims to make the walk or journey along this part of Ferry Lane more welcoming and hopeful to residents and visitors to Tottenham Hale. The many and rich cultures of Tottenham Hale are symbolised by the huge array of colour, shape and movement in this mural.”
The second instalment of the hoarding was made by Kieron Rennie and Jamie Craven, who launched their new artwork 'Home Ground' in April 2024: '
"We decided to celebrate the Tottenham Hale neighbourhood, which serves as a gateway for many stories and journeys. Through a poetry piece titled ‘Home Ground', which speaks to the sense of belonging and shared ownership for those living in and passing through the area, as well as the written text ‘Words We Hear’, playing with the idea of overheard conversations that may typically take place in Tottenham Hale, creating a snapshot of the vibrant environment.
"For the look of the piece, we liked the idea of the two poems weaving into each other. From across the road, ‘Home Ground’ reads clearly, with ‘Words We Hear’, the overheard snippets of chatter is intentionally less legible from afar, the text drifting in and out of the work, evoking the flocking birds of the Marshes nearby. Head closer to the piece and the birds are clearly our second poem, a reward for the curious who cross the road for a closer look.
"The vibrancy of Tottenham brought to life with the poetry is echoed by the design, with both poems presented on a bright colourful background that drifts through the work."
The third instalment was done by Rachel Thomson (R.T.) whose work was launched in June 2024:
"I like the Surrealist artists approach and understanding of what photography is or can be; a means to question the real and to explore and express ideas imaginatively rather than as a representation or documentation.
“In this Medusae series I use sunlight, basic chemistry and plastic waste to make photograms in the spirit of this playful approach to image making. The jellyfish forms in this work are made from actual waste plastic packaging collected around Tottenham and captured using the earliest form of cameraless photography- the cyanotype photogram.* Using this low tech medium I am able to capture through light and translucence an absence or an impression of something that is not the thing itself.
“My repetitive use of the Medusae motif, which I have been making now for over twenty years, comes from my own feelings of climate anxiety and from the waste plastic I see daily on my way to work in Tottenham.”
