‘HOPE SWEET HOPE’ MURAL AT EUSTON COMMUNITY HUB

ODAC is proud to announce a brand-new public art mural situated outside the recently opened Euston Community Hub on North Gower Street. ‘Hope Sweet Hope’ is a joyful artwork created in collaboration with artist PiNS and shaped by over 100 residents through community engagement sessions with local groups.

We were delighted to be working with PiNS (again!) on this community engagement public art project. In 2022, we worked with him to create ‘Diversity’, a mural design for a wall in our centre. Bhupinder Singh, professionally known as PiNS, is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and educator with a strong focus on community engagement, and is passionate about making art accessible to underrepresented groups. With is drive to share the transformational impact of the arts on people as a vessel for wellbeing, thinking, questioning, reimagining, dreaming, making change, and realising potential, we felt confident that he was the right person to deliver this exciting project.

This mural is the latest part of the Euston Partnership’s open space improvement work around the hub, which houses vital services including employment support from Hopscotch Women’s Centre and youth leadership programmes by Fitzrovia Youth in Action. ODAC was delighted to contribute to shaping this space as a more vibrant and welcoming place for all.

How did PiNS collaborate with residents when making the mural?

Over just three weeks, PiNS led 15 workshops, engaging with a rich and diverse mix of our community - from elders of the Third Age Project, to young people in the FYA Girls Group, to women from Afghanistan and Bangladesh supported by Hopsoctch Women’s Centre, the Surma Centre, families from our own Remix Dance, and our Neighbourhood Makeshop’s weekly Thursday group.

PiNS ran a series of unique sessions for each group, taking the time to connect with each participant and create conversations around what it means to live in the neighbourhood and their hopes and dreams for its future. Initially, the ideas started small, with encouragement to draw, write, and collaborate on a shared tablecloth together. Then, together, participants began to reflect on what ‘Hope’ means to them and what they would like to see collectively on the wall.

From a resident of over 40 years, Lilly, 97, reminiscing about how the area used to feel like a community more, when neighbours knew each other and looked out for one another, to many refugee women who had left Afghanistan due to the current regime drawing their hope of education and further oppuntinites from their daughters, knowing they will get this in the UK - each story shared during the workshops added heart to this mural. “Their (participants’) ongoing enthusiasm is a testament to the positive and lasting impact,” said Naomi, Manager of Third Age Project. “PiNS encouraged full and enthusiastic engagement from the group.”

So, what was the inspiration behind the visual concept?

The mural’s defining concept was born from a spontaneous moment during a Makeshop workshop, when a tub of chocolates spilt across the floor. “I gazed at the ‘scatter’ and realised how cool it looked, with pops of colour from the packaging spread across the mucky workshop floor. I thought about each sweet & how different they looked. Similar to how we, as humans, are all different yet the same in some sense. This chance moment went on to inform the design direction of the final artwork.” This moment went on to inspire the title for PiNS ‘Hope Sweet Hope’.

The royal blue background of the mural represents the school’s uniform, as well as the building, which was previously the Maria Fidelis secondary school. This piece of art has many pieces and meanings behind it. 

As Naomi described, PiNS’ relaxed, respectful approach helped participants feel “comfortable, respected and valued.” His visible presence in the neighbourhood allowed for spontaneous, meaningful conversations that deepened this connection. “I felt the word ‘HOPE’ strongly connected the process,” PiNS shared, “and resonated well with the rest of the groups I engaged with.”

This mural was created, designed by and for the community. As PiNS explained, “The final design connects all the themes explored through the community workshops, with emphasis on ‘Hope’ through the act of sharing & feeling a sense of home…The need for bold colours which pop from the deep blue is to highlight the energy of the local community, keeping hope alive through the connections made, through the Ludo game played together, through the homemade cake shared, through the random acts of kindness which often get overlooked…we see hope in vivid colour!”

PiNS’ mural in ODAC’s upstairs corridor, photographed by Matt Mahmood-Ogston

Photography of ‘Hope Sweet Hope’ by the brilliant Nick Turpin.