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BA Fine Art graduate 聽Luke Perry 聽unveiled his latest public artwork monument in 探花直播 City Centre, celebrating the regions diversity, creativity and spirit.
鈥楩orward Together鈥� is a reimagining of 探花直播鈥檚 crest being raised by a line of 25 figures, which was designed by Luke, and made by a team of his friends, many of whom had never worked in a factory or with metal before, including BCU Senior Development Manager Raaj Shamji.
Luke said that the beauty of the Midlands is its diversity which makes it interesting, attractive and exciting: 鈥淐reating public art work has made me realise how little representation there is of non-white groups and working class figures. In public art, there is a huge amount of class, racial and gender divide. It tends to just all be white men. It has always been my ambition to tackle this.鈥�
鈥淔or 鈥楩orward Together鈥�, my brief was to represent my region. The beauty of the Midlands is its diversity; that鈥檚 what makes it interesting, attractive and exciting. You can see it when you go to other places, which are more monocultural; that lack of diversity is more of a limitation than a virtue.鈥�
The 13-metre long installation was built over 14 days by Luke鈥檚 team, who were trained at his Cradley Heath factory where it was made. The monument brings together a collection of local people as the steel silhouettes who the team regard as extraordinary, yet everyday people. Luke and Raaj specifically chose people who are 鈥渆xcellent representatives of their communities鈥�, choosing to work with many faiths, disabilities, genders and all walks of life.
Luke said: 鈥淎s people, we are struggling. We鈥檝e got identity politics, and people are encouraged to be divided. My idea is that we all need to be doing something together, and I needed a symbol of that. The 探花直播 crest has inspired me over the years. It features workers and the word 鈥榝orward鈥�. For me, that felt really positive.
鈥淭he shield itself is split into sections. One part features quotes from 探花直播 writer Benjamin Zephaniah鈥檚 poem 鈥榃e Refugees鈥�, with the lines 鈥榃e all came here from somewhere鈥� and 鈥楴o one is here without a struggle鈥�. Another section features three fists, which symbolise change, and a megaphone to symbolise Victoria Square as the home to many marches and political activism. Then, there are the 25 people. The shield can be interpreted as it is falling down, or that they are bringing it upwards. The idea is that without the people pulling it, it will collapse.鈥�
Luke has been creating public art for over 15 years, aiming to represent those who are underrepresented: 鈥淎 lot of my work involves talking to people and finding out what is really important to them and their area, and what needs to be addressed. Public art helps to mark history before it鈥檚 forgotten, so it鈥檚 incredibly important to communities.
鈥淪ome of the pieces I am most proud of include the Lady Chain Makers Monument in Cradley Heath, which symbolises the conditions endured by women chainmakers and their demands for a minimum wage, which caused a national scandal and a strike in 1910, and the 鈥榃arrior Queen鈥� Lady Aethelflaed in Tamworth, which has now started a nationwide love of the town鈥檚 key figure and her role in English history.鈥�
Luke鈥檚 family has a long history of chainmaking and working with heavy metal, and despite many trips to A&E, he continues to make all of his own work. He said: 鈥淚 make all of the work myself and with my own hands, because I love doing it.
"My advice to current Art students would be that if you don鈥檛 love doing something, then stop doing it. Think about what you鈥檙e doing it all for and if it鈥檚 not worth doing, change it. It鈥檚 never too late to change anything.鈥�
