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'Bizarre' mural unveiled from children's designs

Chloe Hughes
BBC News, West Midlands
Phil Upton
BBC CWR
Art Friends Warwickshire A large section of brick wall that has been painted. It shows green rolling fields and hills with green trees and bushes. The sky is painted blue with white clouds. There is a large green toad wearing a red hat and blue and white shirt with brown shorts.Art Friends Warwickshire
The mural's curator worked with primary school students for inspiration on the work

A new 70m (77yd) long mural designed by children and depicting animals doing human activities has been unveiled in Warwickshire.

The piece in Strathearn Gardens, Leamington Spa, is called Hope for Humanity and was designed and curated by local street artist Tim Robottom with support from lead artist Gordon Landsburgh.

The mural joins more than 20 pieces in the Leamington Mural Festival, a year-long community street art trail.

"I worked with year five and six at Milverton Primary School to generate some ideas and concepts and kick off the creative process," said Mr Robottom.

"It's pretty bizarre but there is a narrative behind it.

"[I was] getting them to come up with drawings of animals paired with human activities to try and emphasise how bizarre some of the things we do are, particularly to the environment."

Art Friends Warwickshire A mural on a brick wall. There is a green tortoise with a brown shell driving a blue truck with sand in the bed of the truck. To its right there are two grey pigeons in white hard hats and yellow high-vis jackets. In the middle there is a grey slug who is in a yellow hard hat and yellow high-vis. They are looking at a hole in the ground, standing in front of colourful blocks of flatsArt Friends Warwickshire
Tim Robottom said, as well as depicting environmental issues, the mural also showed inequalities in society

Mr Robottom said the mural could be followed as a kind of story, reading from right to left.

"It starts with a squirrel with a chainsaw cutting down a forest to make way for a building site, which is depicted with some boarding around some blocks of flats that are being constructed," he said.

"There are two pigeons looking at a hole, they're wearing high-vis vests and hard hats and there's also a slug to emphasise the slow nature of the construction industry."

Following on from that, other animals include a tortoise driving a truck, a toad security guard and a "big fat cat".

Art Friends Warwickshire A children's play area with beige wood chippings on the floor. In the distance is a brick wall with a mural on it. The mural depicts a brown red squirrel with a chainsaw, about to chop down large brown trees. Stretching behind him are brown hills and green grass, with a blue fence around a colourful block of flatsArt Friends Warwickshire
The mural is part of the Leamington Mural Festival

The mural was part-sponsored by Warwickshire county and district councils as well as not-for-profit group Art Friends Warwickshire.

Mr Robottom said the mural also aimed to show the inequalities in society.

"We're seeing more and more in the news about how multi-millionaires are embarking on these crazy projects while people are living on the streets and going to food banks," he added.

"I was absolutely amazed at how clued up the children are aged nine, 10 and 11...they know a lot about what's going on in the world.

"I encouraged them to inspire me."

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