Artists Graffiti Life and Poppy Chancellor collaborate to create huge mural encouraging volunteering.
Volunteering for your community is a noble aim, but how many of us actually follow through and take part? In an effort to get more people involved, an amazing new piece of London street art encourages you to 'Do It For Others' – and it's pretty compelling.
Created by mural artists Graffiti Life, in collaboration with papercut artist Poppy Chancellor, this five-metre-tall mural in Ebor Street, Shoreditch is the largest ever piece of papercut art to grace the walls of the capital.
The massive mural displays two pairs of piggy-backing women, illustrated in Chancellor's distinctive fun-loving and energetic style. It's an empowering image that perfectly sums up the playful attitude of the project.
Poppy Chancellor and Kayleigh Dyer strike a pose with the finished mural
Supported by volunteering champions NCVO, the mural also contains a call to action to help prospective volunteers turn their ambitions into reality.
"A lot of people might feel that they don’t have the time to volunteer, however even if you give your time once a month or once in six months that’s still a huge help to an organisation," explains Graffiti Life project manager Kayleigh Dyer. "I think if everyone volunteered even a little part of their time it would really improve society as a whole. That’s why I’m so passionate about it.”
This positive approach meant that Chancellor's papercut art was perfectly suited to the project. "I really love her work and wanted the mural to show that volunteering can be fun and empowering, rather than something you just do for your CV," Dyer adds. "I’ve been a really big fan of Poppy’s work for a couple of years now after finding her on Instagram, so it was a dream to have her on board."
If you're out and about in London, you can find the mural on Ebor Street in Shoreditch, just opposite Shoreditch House, until Sunday 19 August. Alternatively, you can see how the giant papercut was made by watching the video below.
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Dom Carter is a freelance writer who specialises in art and design. Formerly a staff writer for Creative Bloq, his work has also appeared on Creative Boom and in the pages of ImagineFX, Computer Arts, 3D World, and .net. He has been a D&AD New Blood judge, and has a particular interest in picture books.
