The first major mural to be painted on the Village Underground wall this year has seen a fun effort from Dave the Chimp and his placard waving beans. Painted in support of the Education is not a crime campaign. Dave’s beans are protesting in a nice way. This is against what they see about bean equality because of course beans have rights too.
The mural by Dave the Chimp is part of the wider #notacrime campaign. This advocates for human rights in Iran. It is with a view of raising awareness worldwide against some of the abuses there. In particular #notacrime draws attention to the plight of the Baha’i religious minority. They are a group who often find themselves denied access to education. In fact they are currently banned from both studying and teaching at universities in the country because of their beliefs.
Campaign for Education
According to Maziar Bahari, the former Newsweek journalist who himself was imprisoned in Iran. “I’m grateful that we’re able to shine a light on how the Iranian government is mistreating the Baha’is. I believe it serves as a barometer for understanding whether Iran is ready to operate like a modern and rational government.”
The mural by Dave the Chimp is just the first part in a campaign. One which will see other smaller pieces placed around London. The work itself will be curated by Cedar Lewisohn. For him Dave’s work is about taking a complex political message and making it understandable. “The reason for placing it onto the street is not only for the local London audience” he said. “But considering the potential power of social media it opens it up to a global one too”.
For Dave the Chimp, his mural and street art and general is a political act. It is, he says, “a way to remind people there is freedom available for them”. That is if they are willing to believe in a better world and do the work needed to create that reality. “To deny young people education is to deny us all a brighter future” says Dave.
The Education is not a crime campaign uses the hashtag #notacrime and the website can be found here and to see more work from Dave the Chimp try here . The village underground wall in Shoreditch where the mural was painted was visited on Saturday 9 January 2016.
Dave the Chimp Mural Gallery
For more articles featuring the work of ‘Education is not a Crime’ have a look here:
I saw this in progress early last week and was not sure what it was — I thought it may look like a train (on the left). They had just started the outlines. I’ll probably have a look at the finished work at some point.