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Tube station mural celebrates Brixton's history

Amy ClarkeLondon
News imageAngus Mill Brixton Tube station's entrance with a number of blurred people walking down a staircase. Above the staircase is the bright and colourful mural artwork. At the bottom on the stairs are signs for the Victoria line and two yellow wet floor signs.Angus Mill
Artist Rudy Loewe's mural at Brixton Station

The artist behind the latest mural unveiled at Brixton Tube station has said they aimed to "capture the aliveness" of the local area.

Spanning the entrance above the stairs, The Congregation combines text and imagery across 20 scenes reflecting Brixton's influential figures, well-known landmarks and history, such as the arrival of the Windrush generation.

Artist, Rudy Loewe said Brixton was a "very special place in London", adding: "As soon as you step out of the Tube station, there's such a rich sensorial experience and it was this, that I wanted to transmute into painting."

The mural will be on display for a year and is the ninth commission for the station as part of Transport for London's Art on the Underground programme.

News imageAngus Mill The entrance to Brixton Tube station with blue signage above the doorway. Inside the building is the vibrant mural with above a staircase leading down. The floor outside the station looks wet.Angus Mill
The mural is displayed at Brixton Station's entrance above the stairs

They added: "There are preachers, loud music, people singing; you can hardly walk down the street without having an unexpected conversation with someone."

Figures featured include SisterMatic, a sound system founded in the 1980s that provided a safe space for Black lesbian women, and activist Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean Rigg died in police custody at Brixton Police Station in 2008.

News imageAngus Mill The vibrant mural featuring many people hangs on a pale tiled wall.Angus Mill
The mural pays tribute to communities and individuals who have shaped the area

Prominent locations depicted include the former 121 Centre on Railton Road (once home to activist Olive Morris), the brutalist-style Southwyck House and artist Pearl Alcock's underground bar for Black gay men in the 1990s.

Locals may also spot references to The Powerful Hand spiritual shop, Jamaican restaurant Healthy Eaters, Electric Avenue market and Windrush Square.

Head of Art on the Underground, Eleanor Pinfield, said: "In The Congregation, Loewe distils the complexity of social, architectural, individual and generational histories, particularly of the Black community, into a hugely rich work sprawling across space and time.

"Millions of people will enjoy these vivid depictions of Brixton life and, perhaps, learn more about scenes featured in the work as they travel through the station."

An evening of conversation and film screenings related to the artwork will take place at Brixton's Ritzy cinema on 27 November.

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