The artist-designer’s Endless Ribbon Connecting Us forms part of a citywide creative regeneration programme and aims to instil joy
Words by Francesca Perry
London-based artist and designer Morag Myerscough has collaborated with Coventry City Council and Creative Giants to transform a major public hub in the UK city through her signature mix of bold colours and patterns. Titled Endless Ribbon Connecting Us, the work has been installed in the canopy of Hertford Street – a covered shopping area in the city centre – and forms part of a major creative regeneration programme for the local area, as well as to coincide with Coventry’s status as the 2021 UK City of Culture.
Myerscough’s installation works with the existing architecture – a late-1960s shopping complex – covering its walls and transparent canopy with colours and patterns, creating striking effects of light and saturation. The artist-designer took inspiration from a stained glass window by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens in Coventry Cathedral. The work also references ribbon weaving, which was Coventry’s main industry from the early 1700s to the 1860s. Myerscough’s intervention wraps around the inside of the building in the form of a continuous ribbon with no start or finish.
Like much of her other work, Endless Ribbon Connecting Us aims to instil a sense of joy and positivity in the space where it is installed. ‘I experienced a desire for colour in the city and I wanted to get it in the streets,’ says Myerscough. ‘Community is at the heart of every project I do. We wanted to change perceptions of space by transforming the canopy walkway with fresh bold colour and an abundance of plants. Working with the food traders and surrounding shops, together we wanted to make a new destination for everyone that brings joy to an area that needed some love.’
Photography by Gareth Gardner
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