On the seventh anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy, we look back at Grenfell Memorial Community Mosaic, a four-year art project co-created with the local community.
The Grenfell Memorial Community Mosaic – initiated in 2018 by ACAVA in partnership with Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre – is an art project that has brought hundreds of local people together to make large-scale public mosaics. Co-created by different community, resident, faith and school groups along with individual participants under the guidance of artists Emily Fuller and Tomomi Yoshida, the project has enabled people to connect and to memorialise the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
The third in a series of artworks co-created with the community, Walking as One is a group of 39 mosaics installed in the streets, creating pavement way-markers along the route of the Grenfell Silent Walk. The circular mosaics include the green heart now synonymous with Grenfell, and 72 gold flecks for each life lost in the fire. 35 of the pieces feature the word ‘Justice’ representing the different languages spoken by people living in the tower, and the final three mosaics quote “Forever in our hearts”. The piece concludes with a special stone featuring the leaf motifs connecting with the mosaic artworks created earlier in the project that are installed on the hoarding around Grenfell Tower.
To visit Walking as One, start at Notting Hill Methodist Church, Lancaster Road, W10. Nearest tube: Ladbroke Grove and Latimer Road. You can download a map with the location of all 39 pieces here.