Local Wandsworth artist Shiza Naveed painted this beautiful mural as the finale for a year long project Threads of Tooting which we ran in collaboration with Bounce Theatre.
It is located at the top of an alleyway on Mitcham Road, Tooting opposite Taste Cafe.
The project celebrated past and present tailors of Tooting and we worked closely with a team of brilliant local people from the community to design the mural. Shiza then took all the designs and research and created this beautiful work to honour the deeply rooted connections to textiles in Tooting.
There is so much love for the mural, one local resident said it made him feel proud to live in Tooting.
The alleyway is incredibly historic, it used to lead to a grand house and more recently housed the hearses when the next door building was a funeral parlour.
A well known brilliant man John, sadly passed last year, he was one of the undertakers and as a mark of respect we framed a drawing of a swallow tattoo he had on a beautiful ancient door in the alleyway, this sadly was the first art to be altered.
This year we have been focusing on greening up Tooting and are collaborating with Share Community, a charity that works with adults with disabilities. Their students have painted pots and planted them with geraniums for all to enjoy. Some are secured to one wall of this alleyway and we will be returning to secure more.
We want the alleyway to be a peaceful micro garden for the whole community to enjoy and the mural is part of this reflection.
Recently the mural has been tagged and although we deeply respect all artists, we think it's a little unfair that the mural has been altered without permission.
We are seeking funds so we can pay for the specialist paints and for Shiza's time so she can restore the mural to its original glory.
If you can support us we will of course be for ever grateful. X
P.S. And if you were one of the artists that altered the mural, let's do it together next time in a new space with permission.