This exceptional and unique artwork, a fourteen-panel painted frieze, measuring 27.2 x 1.1 metres (89’1″ x 3’7″) in total, depicting the history and achievements of the labour movement through international trade unionism, is currently hidden from public view for lack of a permanent display location.
Painted in 1976 by three artists, Mick Jones, Christopher Robinson and Simon Barber, the work was a site-specific frieze for the dining area of the Transport and General Workers Centre (now The View Hotel) on Eastbourne’s seafront. The frieze was removed when the building was revamped for hotel use.
The beautifully painted mural is cleverly and innovatively illustrated to include interpretations of major events from the Victorian industrial revolution throughout the turbulent twentieth century. It’s an extraordinary tribute to international trade unionism and fellowship amongst workers seen through the fabric of British social history. Identifiable cameo portraits include John Burns (Union leader), Keir Hardie (founder of the Labour Party), Karl Marx, Ernest Bevin (British stateman and founder of the Transport and General Workers Union) and Adolph Hitler.
Illustrations of the second World War years are particularly moving, symbolically showing the rise of Hitler and fascism, expressing the horror of burning cities, the Armageddon of the atomic bomb, the despair of concentration camp victims. But there is hope as a procession of people march out of the ruins and becomes a Union procession beneath doves of peace. Post war industrial regeneration leads to full employment and leisure activities.
Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, is the obvious place for its permanent display. This important artwork belongs to Eastbourne; designed for and installed in the TGWU Centre with scenes featuring Eastbourne’s coast, the South Downs and Belle Tout Lighthouse. The work would attract visitors and local people to Towner and would be a visual educational tool and discussion document for school students, illustrating not just the labour and union movements but a fascinating kaleidoscope of our nation’s history over the last one-hundred-and-fifty years. This mural is part of Eastbourne’s heritage and as such I believe Towner Gallery have a duty to put this unique artwork on permanent display.
Carol Mills is campaigning for a permanent Eastbourne home for the mural. For more information about the mural, pictures and detailed descriptions of each panel, go to: www.peopleseastbourne.com/mural
Thanks to Carol Mills for kind permission to use the photographs
