Last week,  many of you loved the busy urban murals that I shared from Hong Kong and Belfast. This week, I’m bringing you another mural from Hong Kong, one that is the joint work of that same urban artist, Dan Kitchener, together with another popular street artist who specialises in birds, Charles Williams.

Charles usually works with his wife Janine, creating murals that bring us accurate and realistic images of birds native to their home country, New Zealand.  Their work shares the natural Maori heritage on the walls of urban settings.  

Elgin Street, Hong Kong, November 2018

This mural was commissioned by a Hong charity, Feeding Hong Kong, who rescue surplus food and redistribute it to those in need. And if you look at the figures you will see why: 3,400 tonnes of food waste are sent to landfills in Hong Kong every day!

The task given to Dan and Charles was to create a mural that would make the local people stop, look and think. And hopefully make changes. The bright colours and the beady eye of that bird certainly grab the attention of passers by, and the piles of rubbish in the bottom right give a clue to the message. And there’s a “reduce your waste” message  close to the fork-tailed sunbird and lotus flower.

To learn more about both the project and the creation of this mural, there is an interesting set of videos on youtube ( part1   part2   part3). Each film lasts about 15 minutes, showing the planning that went into the artistic composition, how the mural is created, their thoughts on how to deliver the important message, plus interesting peeks at the work the charity does to feed those in need in Hong Kong. 

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Copyright Debbie Smyth, 10 December 2018

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Enjoying street art has become a regular event on my travels around the world: more of my findings can be seen here
For even more art, pop over to see Sami at Monday Mural