Our third grantee is Unify, creative studio based in Butetown, Cardiff founded by Yusuf Ismail & Shawqi Hasson.
They created a giant mural portrait of Maimuna Yoncana, a woman who came to Cradiff in search of abetter life for herself and her family. The image is a recreation of a photograph taken in the My City My Shirt campaign. The artwork was conceived by Yusuf Ismail and created by Rmr1.
"The purpose of the mural is to celebrate the contribution of Black & diasporic communities in Cardiff whilst also symbolising the real desire for change & progress. Following the BLM demonstrations, the removal of monuments with ties to slavey & the announcement to introduce Black History into the Welsh curriculum. We feel this is a real watershed moment here in Wales.
Furthermore following the tragic passing of Mahmoud Hassan here in Cardiff, many people from our community were deeply hurt by the situation, so we wanted to give our community something to celebrate and help uplift everyone after this extremely challenging time. We hope that everyone can enjoy this piece of art and it can fill us all with hope and optimism for the future." - Yusuf Ismail
See more images and a film of the work being create on @artcry20 on instagram
Since it was unveiled the work has an a stunning response from people across Cardiff including coverage from BBC Wales. We know it will only keep on gathering momentum and standing as a beacon to celebrate Black & diasporic communities in Cardiff.
Keep following the progress #mycitymyshirt @u.nify @artcry20
