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Llanhilleth — Community Mural
The young people of Clwb Llan helped start this mural. We explored what Llanhilleth meant to them in workshops at the Miners Institute, then shared the ideas for wider community feedback. I brought those contributions together in the finished painting.
Location: Llanhilleth, Blaenau Gwent
Initiated locally by: Cllr Helen Cunningham
Participation: Workshops with young people from Clwb Llan, followed by wider community feedback
Additional project support: Head4Arts and locally assembled funding
My role: Workshop delivery, consultation, concept development, design and mural painting
Follow the ideas from the workshops to the wall ↓
Starting with place, not a generic brief
I had worked in Llanhilleth before and already knew something of the village and its character. Its mining history is important, but the commission was not about producing a nostalgic heritage panel. The more interesting challenge was how local history, present-day community life and the ideas of younger residents could be brought together in a mural that felt contemporary and specific to Llanhilleth.
From workshop ideas to a resolved artwork
The workshop material was a starting point rather than a set of instructions. My job was to identify the themes with enough weight to carry the mural, then turn them into a coherent composition with its own visual rhythm and identity.
That distinction matters in participatory public art. People need to be able to recognise their contribution in the finished work, but the mural also needs the discipline of editing, composition and authorship if it is going to hold a wall successfully for years.
A project built from local commitment
The commission itself came together because people locally wanted it to happen. Funding was assembled through local councillors alongside support from Head4Arts. That gave the project a particularly direct relationship with the community it was made for.
Keeping participation inside the artwork
Because the young people were involved at the beginning, their ideas could shape the design before it hardened into a finished solution. Wider feedback then tested that thinking without turning the mural into a vote-by-committee exercise. The finished wall carries local input, but it still has the editing, rhythm and authorship needed to work as a piece of public art.
Further project context: Original project story and gallery ↗
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