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Street Art Thanking Healthcare Workers Is Popping Up All Over the UK

United Kingdom News Art + Architecture
by Eben Diskin Apr 24, 2020

All around the world, people have been expressing their gratitude to healthcare workers with a nightly round of applause. In the UK, people are taking that support one step further, creating beautiful street murals thanking the National Health Service (NHS) workers for their bravery and dedication during the pandemic.

Both professional and amateur artists are putting their talents to good use, covering entire walls or sections of streets with colorful tributes. Artist Rachel List was responsible for several pieces of art in Pontefract, England. She depicted NHS workers as resilient heroes, painting images of nurses with angel wings and boxing gloves, and symbolic Superman associations.

“I think people just want to show their appreciation for the NHS,” she said, “and hopefully, I have, in some small way allowed that message to travel.”

Nathan Bowen expressed his gratitude with a large mural that says “Stay Positive” in London.

Karim Kamil made some colorful additions to the streets of Swansea in Wales with her NHS street art.

Other artists have gone above and beyond with their tributes. Claire Flynn from Coventry is creating a new mural each week using chalk.

Welder Pete Henson erected a 6-foot-tall statue of a nurse in Exmoor.

Even art students are showing their appreciation for healthcare workers. Eighteen-year-old Davina Dickson of Penkridge painted an impressive mural of a nurse against the backdrop of the Union Jack. She captioned it, “The centre piece from my painting here is to say a huge thank you to the NHS, it certainly makes me proud to be British. Stay safe, all my love.”

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