King Henry’s Road Chilean refugees mural artist returns to support restoration

Published: 11th November, 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

AN historic mural created by Chilean refugees is a step closer to being permanently restored after residents tracked down the artist behind it.

King Henry’s Road resident Bee Thompson has traced former street artist Philip Hartigan to the south of France, where he has lived for 25 years, in a bid to learn about the artwork’s history.

The mural was painted in 1973 alongside the railway line in King Henry’s Road, Primrose Hill, by Chilean refugees who fled to Camden following a military coup. It has been celebrated as a unique piece of cultural history, but became the centre of a row in July when a section disappeared as part of a community initiative to re-paint the wall.

Grass-roots green movement Transition Primrose Hill, who got Network Rail’s permission to paint the wall, were unaware of the mural’s history when they began a project to create a new piece of art with a theme of a biodiversity. They have since apologised to residents and promised to help restore what is left of the image to its former glory.

Meeting residents at the wall on Friday, Mr Hartigan, 62, who worked from a squat in Chalk Farm Road in the 1970s, told how he secured £100 funding from the Arts Council to work on the mural and was joined by exiled artists from Chile.

He said: “It was a community action pro­ject with young people and ex-offenders. Then we were asked if we could do a session with young Chilean artists who had been exiled and were living in squats like us. They turned up in ponchos and with stories of what they had been through.”

Father-of-six Mr Hartigan, who now works with people suffering from mental illnesses, said the mood at the time was “powerful” but admitted he was surprised the mural had continued to provoke an emotional reaction.

He added: “At the time there was a lot of political instability and people were just realising they could affect the areas they lived in. The idea was to inspire the community to action but we didn’t realise it would have such a permanence.”

Ms Thompson said she was moved to find out about the mural’s history after the section painted by Chilean refugees – which read “Solidarity With the People of Chile” – was lost in July without consultation with residents.