People power: The story behind the latest Jamaica Street mural

The creation of the current mural on the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft outdoor gallery wall proved that many hands really do make light work.

Artist Roze Waudby was commissioned to design the piece, but its creation was a collaborative effort – embodying the very message it set out to display to the world.

The original idea for the artwork was to explore the emergence of the Bristol Commons. Established in March 2023 by Coexist, the project brings grassroots actors together to strengthen local cultural and community spaces.

Artist Roze Waudby led on the design but, in the end, the creation of the mural was a joint effort involving many different people from across the city – photo: Leoni Fretwell

In the last year over 70 organisations and 500 people have helped to build a programme around the project’s core aim of reclaiming the ‘commons’ – the infrastructure, such as parks and community centres, that increases community health by offering space for connecting, learning, and inclusive activities of all kinds.

“It’s an ancient way of being that has been destroyed or dismantled and fragmented through capitalism and privatisation,” explained Roze, who worked with artist Tulla Rose on the project.

“The commons is an empowered way of living where we have access to the land, clean air and water – it’s ours, and we look after it. It’s about sharing resources – not competitiveness or individual gain, but improving things for everyone.”

At the most recent Bristol Commons meeting, at the Bricks building in Brislington, around 80 people discussed community power, local land justice and how to shift ‘a system that still favours the rich and powerful.’

“The gathering marked a year of commoning and over that time working groups have been developing strategy, mapping commons and exploring how to tell the story of recommoning,” said Danny Balla, project lead.

Facilitator Maddy Longhurst talks through the project aims at the most recent meeting – photo: Illaria Trees Meridio

The mural was intended to promote the gathering – but became much more than that in the making.

“It became an act of commoning in itself, with a wide diversity of people contributing to the design,” said Danny. “They were drawing and painting – adding words, imagery and their own unique experience to its creation.”

“It was more about the process of working together than it was about getting the design together,” said Roze.

“The project is radically challenging disconnection through connection, which takes a lot of compassion and being kind to ourselves and each other.”

Roze came to Bristol to practice graffiti, having been inspired by a communal upbringing and the street art she saw in places like Berlin, as she moved around with a family that lived in vehicles and squats.

“I’ve always been exposed to collaborative and community based ways of living. That’s informed my practice and the way I live my life everyday. It’s ingrained in me,” she said.

“In Berlin, the walls are speaking to you all the time. People are constantly adding to the tapestry of the streets. Painting murals gives me such a sense of purpose and fulfilment and community.”

The collective artwork can be seen on a wall on Jamaica Street – photo: Leoni Fretwell

The resulting radical landscape image, with hands shown sewing threads and sowing seeds, maps “the amazing places that exist in Bristol,” said Roze. “Important community places, shared spaces, resources, people-focused places that aren’t for profit – they’re for wellbeing, health, community, connection.”

They invited passers-by to get involved and, while painting, discussed the commons, the Enclosures Act, and ways to challenge a more communal way of life that is being eroded. Roze found the process itself, as well as the final artwork, served to create hope.

“The problems are entwined with the solutions in the piece – everything is interwoven, overlapping and interacting. It’s finding hope through working together and participating in finding the solutions.

“It was a really beautiful collaborative process of random encounters, shared experience and education. I hope it helps people to know that things are active and there are possibilities and opportunities here to make us feel more supported and included in a difficult political and economic landscape.”

Danny thinks the mural could encourage positive change: “We hope it will inspire people to reclaim the commons!”

The mural can be viewed on Jamaica Street until the end of May.

Main photo: Leoni Fretwell

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