Approval Sought for Gunnersbury Park Humanitarian Aid Memorial
Series of linked figures would be placed near Round Pond
A visualisation from the planning submission of the memorial
February 9, 2024
An application (P/2024/0324) has been made to Hounslow Council for a humanitarian aid memorial in Gunnersbury Park.
It would comprise a circle of fifteen human-scale figures joining hands, seven metres in diameter which would be located to the south east of the Round Pond.
On the inside of the circle, text and images are drawn onto the figures, telling the story of humanitarian aid work and celebrating the work and lives of aid workers across the globe.
The figures will have a clearcoat finish, which will act as a protective layer to frustrate vandals.
A new pathway would be created from the existing pedestrian footpath leading to the centre of the Memorial and a wooden bench is proposed at the entrance of the pathway, providing seating for visitors. This would include a brass plaque, containing information about the work alongside a QR code that links visitors to webpages hosted by Gunnersbury Park.
The Trust which manages the park has been working alongside the organising committee and the Contemporary Arts Society *Consultancy (CAS*C) to deliver what would be the first dedicated humanitarian aid memorial. It has been designed by artist, Michael Landy who is regarded as being part of the Young British Artists movement which rose to prominence in the late eighties. He is known for the seminal work, Breakdown, 2001, in which he methodically catalogued and destroyed all of his possessions in a disused department store on Oxford Street. Landy was commissioned by Art on the Underground to develop Acts of Kindness, 2011.
The work could form part of a learning program for local schools, building on the existing museum education service.
An earlier proposal for the sculpture, made several years ago, was that it should be sited at Kenwood, but the estate eventually rejected the idea. a location in Manchester was being considered but that too was rejected.
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