Art / Bristol Light Festival
City centre sights lit up as Bristol Light Festival begins
Have you ever wondered what else is happening around Banksy’s famous Well Hung Lover at the bottom of Park Street?
The inaugural Bristol Light Festival helps to answer that question, with four graffiti artists and illustrators commissioned to imagine the scene in a work called Neighbours.
Looking at the piece as it was unveiled for the first time as the sun began to set on Thursday evening, one of the illustrators, Jasmine Thompson, said that it was “really incredible” for her work to appear alongside Banksy’s mural.
is needed now More than ever
Limbic Cinema have animated the work of Jasmine, Inkie, Parys Gardener and Zoe Power, with nine windows on the side of the building rather than the usual one.
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Jasmine added: “I wanted to focus on underrepresented communities within the city. Each floor has a different theme.”
These themes include homelessness, Caribbean culture and power struggles.
Jasmine Thompson was one of the illustrators commissioned to create the ‘Neighbours’ installation – photo by Martin Booth
On his floors, Inkie has created a bordello, a paint factory, a crime scene in reference to when a huge gas explosion in 1976 destroyed some of the buildings once on this site, with a rat as a nod to Banksy who he used to paint with when they both growing up in Bristol.
“I think they have done a good job,” said Inkie, looking up at the animation. “It fits perfectly with what’s going on. And like graffiti, it’s a temporary thing.”
Neighbours is just one of nine installations across the city centre as part of the festival, which runs from Thursday until Sunday.
Other pieces include a playground of light-up musical seesaws on Queen Square, an interactive work on Castle Bridge and LED frames on Millennium Square.
Main photo by Martin Booth
Read more: Bristol Light Festival 2020 announces full programme of artists
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