PHLEGM // Illustrations for kids and grown ups
One of favourite murals in Bristol is this one by Phlegm. The Sheffield-born artist is famous for painting monochromatic characters that seem to come out of an imaginatory storybook for children. It reminds me a lot of an exhibition near my home town. It was showing illustrations for kids and I was visiting with it my parents and my uncles every year. The festival was held in the Italian town of Sarmede, in the region of Prosecco. With mom, we were trying to come up with an interpretation of the various illustrations. Similarly yesterday, 20 years later, we did the same with this mural. Mom thinks that this mural represents how a young man tries to elevate to see the world and/or behind the storm (the tsunami). To do so, he needs not to only be brave and smart, but also the help of the elder: his dad or his grandfather. Is his what the artist meant? Who knows. But that is less important than what a mural means to each of us
