Yardworks x COP26
The global climate crisis conference acted as a springboard for a whole host of creative opportunities led by the Yardworks team, leaving the city blazing with statements of activism, optimism and hope.
Along with a project with primary-school aged children, a number of railway arches became statements of activism, with bright, bold messages still emblazoned across them – visible from the COP26 epicentre at the Hydro, from traffic speeding along the Expressway, and to passers-by, both during the conference, and still to this day.
Alongside new murals by Yardworks artists Craig Black, Molly Hankinson & Michaela McManus and Smug, came one designed by 14-year-old student Colin LI and painted by Glasgow-based artists Ciáran Glöbel and Conzo Throb.
Craig Black
“Words are pretty, but action creates change”. Stretching across two archways, for extra effect, Craig Black’s clever mural was a partnership with The Zero Carbon Campaign, looking to create a special message for world leaders at COP26. The slogan had a double meaning: with the archways directly facing the ongoing traffic heading towards the COP26 site, the mural was painted exclusively with Graphenstone paints, which absorb C02. In fact, the paint used on the walls will absorb the same amount of C02 as a mature adult tree over one year.
Molly Hankinson and Michaela McManus
As part of a series of COP26 commissions and projects Yardworks was approached for, in October 2021 artists Molly Hankinson and Michaela McManus led workshops with pupis from Sunnyside Primary School, Shawlands Academy and Hillhead High School to develop new designs to be painted on the Finnieston railway arches. In a partnership with poster company Jack Arts, the young people’s designs were also printed and pasted around the city, increasing the reach of their vital message even further.
SWG3 studio resident and Glasgow School of Art graduate Molly is a visual artist and illustrator from South East London, who now lives and works in Glasgow. Michaela is a visual artist and co-director of Dornoch Street Studios.
Ciáran Glöbel, Conzo Throb and Colin LI
Colin was the 14-year-old winner of a competition run by Octopus Energy, Imperial College's Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Grantham Climate Art Prize, inviting 12-25-year-olds to design a mural that sends a strong message about the habitats and living organisms under threat across the UK.
The winning designs were turned into large public murals by local street artists in seven UK towns and cities, each inspired by locally endangered species – Colin’s Earth and Nature Climate Change mural, beautifully brought to life by Glasgow-based artists Ciáran Glöbel and Conzo Throb, includes locally endangered species such as the basking shark, bluebell and golden-ringed dragonfly.
The project specifically invited street artists in the UK to be part of this initiative due to the power of the imagery and content that surround us on the streets in our public realm. The artists created a platform for new voices from a younger generation to join the crucial conversations around climate change and to generate further conversations in communities across the UK.
