[title]
The rainbow has become synonymous with pride for the UK’s NHS and key workers. We’ve seen it scribbled on posters and posted to windows, as well as in pavement drawings cast in chalk. But this latest rainbow tribute is pretty delightful.
Artist Paul Insect and Block London furniture have collaborated to create several multi-coloured benches to brighten up an empty London. Street-art figure Insect said yesterday (Wednesday May 28) that they’d spent the last few mornings ‘gifting’ benches to the city.
‘This is an artistic statement, but it also pays tribute to all the healthcare workers; the doctors, nurses and all the staff who work in hospitals, and to the everyday key workers who have kept the UK running; the shopkeepers; the bus, train and taxi drivers; the dustmen and women; our postal workers and delivery drivers,’ said Block London on its website. It added that it hoped the benches, placed next to some of London’s most prominent landmarks, would be used after lockdown for moments of reflection and remembrance.
Sadly, it seems a bench doesn’t last for life. Both Insect and Block London today reported on their Instagram accounts that the benches had been spotted being removed from locations around town.
Time Out contacted Potter’s Field Park for information pertaining to the removal of the colourful bench collaboration, as pictured on social media above. Chief Executive Sheila Benjamin said surprise gifts were a risk without the correct insurance and safety measures in place, and that polite requests to remove the bench from Potter’s Field Park were ignored.
Nevertheless, you can enjoy images taken of the benches in situ next to London’s landmarks below, and try and spot those remaining benches on your daily (socially distanced) wanderings around town.
Find out why last night was the last ever Clap for Our Carers.
The London Eye has also turned NHS Blue in tribute to our NHS.