Continuing our series on London's greatest murals.
It's one of the capital's most famous outdoor works of art. The Hackney Peace Carnival Mural has towered over Dalston Lane for 40 years. It's seen by millions each year, and even made it onto the cover of Rudimental's debut album Home in 2013. It is a superstar of murals.
The much-loved wall was designed by the seasoned muralist Ray Walker in 1983. Its original purpose was to celebrate the Greater London Council's (GLC) Peace Year. It shows a crowd of local faces making music on the streets of Dalston, with anti-war slogans and banners for the likes of Greenpeace and the CND. The mural was funded by Hackney Council and the GLC, with significant help from Tony Banks MP.
And what a beauty it is. The protestors march against the grimmest prospect of all, nuclear war. And yet smiles abound. This is a joyous, colourful — and presumably very loud — celebration of community and multiculturalism. A carnival, indeed.
Sadly, Walker died suddenly before painting could even begin. The work was taken on by Mike Jones and Anna Walker, and was unveiled in 1985.
The mural is looking superb for its four decades thanks, in large part, to a major restoration back in 2014. This shored up the render, added a new layer of paint, as well as an anti-graffiti coating.
Let's see what details we can unpack...
Details of the Dalston Mural
1. Mahatma Gandhi: The revered peace campaigner — and one-time Londoner — leans out of an upper-floor window to survey the carnival. He couldn't be there in person, of course, having been assassinated four decades before. His presence symbolises the tradition and spirit of peaceful protest, of which he was the greatest embodiment.
2. Navarino Mansions: This distinctive roof line is distinguishable as Navarino Mansions, a Victorian philanthropic housing development that still stands at the other end of Dalston Lane.
3. Janus of Greed: It takes a bit of squinting, but the awful beast at the centre of the mural appears to have two heads, one a shark and the other a rat. It is festooned in symbols of greed, including a golden pound, a belt of dollars and bullets, and a giant cigar. It clutches broken Soviet and American missiles in bloody hands.
4. Nelson Mandela: The South African anti-apartheid campaigner was the world's most famous prisoner at the time of the carnival and could not be there in person. Like Gandhi, his likeness appears on the mural as a symbol of peace and tolerance.
5. Rail worker: Identifiable from the British Rail symbol on his cap, this worker is perhaps symbolic of Dalston Junction station, which is just across the road. Former tracks out of the station passed right in front of the mural and are now the wonderful Dalston Eastern Curve Garden. The rail worker may also represent Hackney Council's efforts to declare the borough a Nuclear Free Zone — which meant trains carrying nuclear waste would be forbidden from passing through the area. A rail bridge near the top of the mural also recalls this stance.
6. Coal miner: If Cold War politics dominated the international agenda in the mid-80s, then it was coal mining that took most of the domestic headlines. Specifically, Margaret Thatcher's determination to kill off the industry, and the union fight to save jobs and keep pits open. It's fitting, then, that a hard-hatted miner joins the procession here, as a trombone player. A year after the mural appeared, Thatcher would also abolish the GLC, which had supported and part-funded this mural.
7. Saxophonist: One of many local musicians immortalised on the mural. This sax player is Alan May, a member of the Chats Palace Arkestra, whose name is emblazoned on his shirt. Local historian Laurie Elks tracked down the identities of many of the other characters in the mural, which can be found in an archived article on Way Back Machine.
8. Ray Walker: A posthumous portrait of the mural's original designer, who sadly died before the painting began aged just 39. Walker had also worked on the Cable Street mural, which uses a similar format.
9. Anna Walker: Ray's wife and fellow artist, who helped to complete the mural after Ray's death. The child just above her in the mural is their son Roland.
