The Future is Looking Green

Hello. My name is GARf. I designed and painted the Green Futures mural

But first a little bit of background …

My Third Career

After leaving art college, I embarked on my first career as an Art Director in London advertising agencies, then as Creative Director of my own multi-disciplinary design studio.

During this time I also became a visiting university lecturer specialising in creating design concepts and visual communication.

Twenty-five years later I started career number two, as a less stressed handyman and decorator. This included painting rather a lot of walls, mostly magnolia.

A couple of years ago I started career number three - Street Artist - the perfect combination of the previous two careers. Putting designs onto walls.

I’ve been working in Exmouth for just over two years now. And given a good number of walls the GARf make-over.

I like to think I’m a considerate street artist, I always try to put the right piece of art in the right place. Working in a number of styles from full colour realist to subtle mono-tone and even spray stencil. In fact some of his work has been mistaken for that other well known international graffiti artist - earning me the nickname the Banksy of Exmouth.

Alongside work

I have always been passionate about the environment and living sustainably. Recently my mother moved house and found a book of mine showing how to make electricity from a wind turbine, I would have been about 14 years old when I got that book in the 1970’s. I knew way back then, we needed to look after our world. My problem was that people didn't listen or understand or were interested.

I have also worked for renewable energy companies, run sustainable community groups and lived on a small-holding. I believe life on earth is a delicate balance and we need to look after our planet in all that we do.

Designing this mural

“It was a fantastic privilege for me to paint this mural. I felt it was a pinnacle point in my life’s work, to be given a public canvas on this subject, I feel so passionate about.”

The brief was to be positive, which i personally find difficult at times, but like telling a joke one needs to set the scene first and i needed a negative section. So the first design had to have two halves. However the factual causes of climate crisis and the positive solutions are lifeless objects and don't have many emotional connections or attributes. I therefore looked for a way to really connect with the viewers. Thats when I decided to include someone I cared about, my Granddaughter. 

At first she looked vulnerable in a world of turmoil but with her mothers arm around her it showed she was cared for. And in return she cares for a vulnerable butterfly, one of the most delicate and yet beautiful of insects. I now had the basis for my design.

The top left shows the root of all our problems the oil industry. Who want us to use as much petrol, diesel, gas, and aircraft fuel as possible. For example flying abroad used to be a once a year holiday if you were lucky, now it’s a being used as something to to do on a spare weekend.

A few details I wanted to include were not only cruise ships that are basically floating diesel power stations, but also cargo ships, to remind us that imported products all have a high carbon footprint.

We must not forget, gas boilers that heat our homes and clearing rain-forests to grow our meat for fast food burgers.

We are not just producing too much carbon but also polluting our earth, sewage is going into waterways, as is plastic and I’ve even included wet wipes, all these issues need addressing.

Painting this mural

In the last two years i have painted many murals on the streets of Exmouth and enjoy being in the public domain. Exeter is obviously a busier location and some days it felt like I did more talking than painting. All kinds of people stopped.

Whilst painting I got to talk to many people who where passing including regular commuters and tourists visiting Exeter from various countries.

There was an overwhelming support for this mural but more intriguing was how the mural evoked and promoted conversations about our planet and living a ‘green’ life. It was great for me to hear parents talk to and ask their children about the mural and what it represented. Some people just quietly took photos whilst some groups of friends took selfies by it, but what surprised me was that some people actually thanked me for my work and addressing the messages that are so important to our mutual futures. A real treat was when people walking around the corner uttered a genuine exclamation of joy.

What was interesting was the questions people asked and the variety of discussion points raised.

For example, why the Pyramids? My answers were that the brief emerged from COP27 in Egypt, where it was agreed to produce two murals one in Alexandria and one in Exeter. The murals were to be in response to essays written at the previous COP26. One of these spoke about the polluted state of the Nile and the loss of fish. Also I felt the Pyramids represented previous civilisations and proves that mankind has lived in harmony with the planet for over 5000 years, and it’s only in the last 100 years that we have made some bad choices. Similarly when the Exeter Cathedral was built we didn’t have problems with the climate.

Also there were questions about St Sidwell Point Leisure Centre and the fact it is not only carbon neutral but the Worlds first leisure centre too reach Passivhaus standards and that the house I’ve painted is a Heritage Home as you can see on the way to Topsham. They build zero carbon houses that have won many environmental awards.

To end, I’d like to say thank you to everyone that made this project happen, I hope you like the finished result and it can be enjoyed for many years.

Good street art should lift the soul, better still if it promotes discussion, debate and even a change in beliefs and behaviours.

To finish

Having said that my ultimate fear is that we are at the mercy of the oil, gas and coal industries who do not want to give up their profits even at the expense of our planet. There are many here-say stories of inventors being bought out, patents put into long term storage. But a few facts may surprise you.

In 1860, Etienne Lenoir of France invented the 1-cylinder, 2-stroke vehicle. by electrolysing water and running a car on hydrogen.

1897 saw the inauguration of New York City’s new motorised taxicab service, these first taxis were all powered by electricity.

In 1909, the U.S. Geological Survey reports: "In regard to general cleanliness, such as absence of smoke and disagreeable odours, alcohol has many advantages over gasoline or kerosene as a fuel…

In 1925, Henry Ford tells The New York Times that ethyl alcohol is "the fuel of the future"

End