Stories Behind The Art: Love is Gonna Save the Day

The Brandon Estate in Kennington Park was in desperate need of some care and attention after it had spent years at the mercy of spray paint and graffiti. Local residents felt that the 60m stretch of wall surrounding Kennington Park represented the bygone days of gang culture and violence, a time the community were keen to leave behind. 

Brewers Decorator Centres in association with local group Bee Urban undertook an ambitious community scheme alongside the Brandon Tenants Residents Association to restore the community’s spirit and unity by painting a massive mural along a 60m wall, making it one of London’s longest murals.

Brewers Peckham store manager Jimmy Thomson was delighted to help by donating over 150 litres of Albany Paint to the community project. The Peckham store were blown away by the enthusiasm of Bee Urban’s Barnaby Shaw as his team strove to overcome the negative image created about the estate, seeking instead to highlight a very different message

The eleventh half hexagon is another contribution to the wall by the students of Highshore School, A secondary school situated in Camberwell, working tirelessly to support the unique needs of every one of their students. Each of the 144 pupils require Special Educational Needs, and a vast number have become actively involved in both the painting and designing of the Brandon Estate wall! 

They decided to design a hexagon that celebrated the things that bring us as a community together, music and love. 

The mural depicts Kennington Park filled with an enormous stage and a live band playing to a packed exuberant crowd! The band, made up of local residents, play their smash hit, “Love is Gonna Save the Day.”

This message, one of unity and of an end to unwanted animosity in the community, one that celebrates our similarities and brings us all closer together, is the very same message that the children of Highshore wanted to share and is one that should be heard the world over. Love will save the day!