For one week, a gentleman has sat on scaffold at the end of the street where I live. He has worked both day and night to painstakingly create a piece of, house sized, artwork (est. 30 feet high and 20 feet wide). The work shows the Leeds United football badge, along with the founding year (1919) and this year (2019), which commemorates the centenary of the football club.
Photographers are, today (2 November 2019), taking photographs of football fans standing in front of the artwork as they make their way to the Leeds United v QPR match. I must admit that my sense of pride in the area where I live has been given a boost on seeing this. Perhaps Holbeck hasn’t totally been forgotten.
This work has brightened a dull street end that has, unfortunately, become a haven for drug/alcohol use. In my personal opinion, it has transformed where I live. I am starting to sense pride returning to others that live local to this wall of art. But, why only one wall? What if there was some kind of artwork on walls throughout different areas, depicting what the area is renowned for and showcasing the amazing artistic talent that people from Leeds have.
I am yet to confirm the name of the gentleman that produced the artwork – some people are saying that it might be Burley Banksy (Andy McVeigh). I would have liked to have shaken his hand and congratulated him. For now, all I can say is thank you and, in the words from a Charles Dickens novel, Please sir! I want some more.
This post was written by Paul Hindmarch
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