Discover the vibrant and colourful history of the London Jewish community, splashed across a 9-storey mural for everyone to see!
This 26.5 x 14.2-metre artwork by Leon Fenster captures the colourful and vibrant essence of London's Jewish community.
The mural, featuring over 150 faces from historical figures to local legends, includes scenes such as Nicholas Winton and the Kindertransport, Queen Elizabeth I at the trial of her Jewish doctor, and Jewish boxers across generations. Notable personalities like Freud, Benjamin Disraeli, and a host of rabbis including Julia Neuberger and Jonathan Sacks are vividly brought to life.
In addition to these prominent figures, the mural highlights cultural moments such as Brian Epstein with The Beatles and Mr Fish’s 1960s fashion boutique. These depictions celebrate the diverse and dynamic contributions of Jewish individuals to London's history and culture.
Created by artist Leon Fenster in his unique style, the colourful kaleidoscope collides every period of London’s Jews together with highlights depicting memories, legends, history, celebrations and stories of the Jews who live, lived and passed through London.
And see if you can spot the nod to JW3, with founder Dame Vivien Duffield and CEO Raymond Simonson amongst all the faces!
The London Jewish Mural will be unveiled and available to view from early July. Stay tuned for more details!
Leon Fenster
Leon is an artist from London, whose life has been split between the UK, US and Asia. His art is a bold new form of visual storytelling. Around the world, from Taiwan to Mexico, families, communities, cities and organizations have commissioned Leon to depict their story in his kaleidoscopic style.
He was originally trained in architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, before embarking on his artistic journey when he was invited to exhibit a series of dream-like artworks that formed a manifesto of Jewish architecture.
During his time in Singapore, China and Taiwan, where he exhibited his art, he was inspired by the density of Asian cities to develop the style he is now best known for, a style that can reflect the rich density of worlds of all sizes: from an individual family to an entire social movement.
In 2018, Leon was commissioned by a family, in memory of their son, to create the Beijing Haggadah. This will be the first in a series of city-specific Haggadot. Leon has spent much of the intervening years delving into the Haggadah as Judaism’s ultimate vehicle of storytelling. The pinnacle of this deep dive will be a new ‘ultimate’ Haggadah for which he will begin crowd-funding soon.
Throughout the pandemic, Leon led a small broad-tent community in Taiwan, as well as embarking on a speaking tour about his art to various communities. leonfenster.com
