Leave Your Mark
Charity Week turned cafe mural into a community canvas.
Organised by Queen Mary University & Barts and the London Students in partnership with Islamic Relief UK, Charity Week is a campaign where universities compete with each other to raise funds for orphans and needy children around the world. And at The Crepe Shop and Art Cafe, we didn’t just sponsor it, we joined in.
I didn’t want to be like other businesses where you financially support the cause and in return, the business is promoted. I used this opportunity to be creative and add my artistic stamp for my portfolio, but also wanted others to be part of it. So, the Charity Week Mural was born.
Charity Week had a ‘Space’ theme going that year. I painted a space and galaxy mural, not as a “look but don’t touch” piece, but as an interactive art wall. The centrepiece was my favourite detail: I turned the sun into the Charity Week logo in their campaign colours, and placed The Crepe Shop name on the moon, like our little stamp in the universe. Then I left the rest of the space open so everyone else could get creative.
Students from different universities came through to leave their mark. Regular customers joined in too, some just writing a quick message, others drawing and adding little details like they’d been waiting for an excuse.
It pulled in people who weren’t even part of the student crowd.
People came from different parts of Europe who happen to walk parts the shop, saw what was happening, and wanted to support the cause, and to leave their mark on a wall that had somehow become bigger than the shop itself.
It turned into that rare kind of atmosphere where strangers talk, laugh, share pens, and end up taking photos together like old friends.
Even the young children got creative. Who doesn't like a bit of scribbling on the wall :)
By the end of the week, the mural was packed with messages and marks, like a living scrapbook of the campaign.
I really enjoyed this mural. A mural where as an artist, I didnt mind people drawing over my work. It was meant for everyone and thats what made it amazing. And I'd definitely would like to do something like this again in the future.
Massive well done to the Queen Mary University and Barts and the London students for getting businesses involved and running Charity Week with real energy and heart. It takes effort to organise something like that, and they did a brilliant job.
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