COVID 19, aka the Coronavirus, has had many negative effects on the world we live in. But it has also opened some doors that are otherwise closed to non-commercial projects. Like the massive wall on Chance street Shoreditch, London. Normally an oversized commercial billboard selling the messages to the masses, the billboard went blank for several weeks creating a chance for French-born street artist and graphic designer NERONE, to create a celebratory end of lockdown mural.

Bring color back to the streets of Shoreditch

“Since lockdown, and with all the tourists gone, the walls of Shoreditch have been left desperately blank”, says Nerone. “Every wall in Shoreditch was painted black and it all looked very gloomy and sad. I was walking down Chance St and I thought, “Why should we wait for the next big ad to be released to see those walls full of life and colors again?” For NERONE, art should be part of peoples every day, especially in challenging times. “I really wanted to bring a message of hope and positivity with this painting, in order to bring back some life to the area. When seeing my colorful, dreamlike flowers up on this wall, I want passers-by to smile and be cheerful. It felt so good to be able to paint such a huge wall again after 5 months of lockdown”. In true graffiti spirit, the artist did manage to stay creative during the lockdown period. Or if you can’t make it to the site, take a look here.

Using a scissor lift, the 426 square foot of wall space was transformed using Montana GOLD and BLACK with the assistance of the Global Street Art organization, who managed to snare the permission to paint this particular wall. Nerone’s colorful dreamlike flowers can be seen until 16th August in Chance Street, Shoreditch, East London.