Hackney students display artwork at Great Fire of London festival

The wooden panels created by Hackney students. Credit: Flint

The wooden panels created by Hackney students. Credit: Flint

Young people from Hackney will have their art projects displayed at the finale of a festival marking the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London.

Across London, those in primary schools as well as youngsters aged 16-24 will come together to participate in the London Burning festival.

The art event commemorates the fire which broke out in 1666 destroying 80 per cent of the city and causing many people to lose their homes.

Hackney schoolchildren have been working closely with David Best, an American artist, to create a 120m-long sculpture of Restoration London which is expected to be set alight on the River Thames in a dramatic retelling of the Great Fire.

Students from New Regents College, Southwold and Orchard primary schools have also designed some panels to be then transformed into laser cuts on wood showing their future hopes for London.

The programme which has been produced by Artichoke, a charity and leading creative company funded by Arts Council England, is aimed to highlight the effect the fire had on architecture till today.

Helen Marriage, Director of Artichoke said: “The Great Fire of London is a story that has tremendous contemporary resonance.

“Hundreds of young Londoners will play a role in making LONDON’S BURNING a reality and share in a journey that explores the lasting impact of the Great Fire on this global city through the imagination of artists, thinkers and writers”.

Before the creations by Hackney pupils are attached to Best’s sculpture, it will be firstly displayed in London Fields West Side, between August 19-21, weeks before the start of the London Burning festival.

The festival, which will later feature the panels created by the students, will start from August 30- September 4.

The public will be able to watch the unveiling and burning of the artwork in the event’s closing ceremony which is planned to take place at 7.30pm on September 4 on the Thames.

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