The Growing City

Growing City (2020) is a public artwork produced by Jo Peel and Professor Nigel Dunnett. The hand-painted mural spans 32m and celebrates the Cultural Industries Quarter in the heart of Sheffield City Centre. Commissioned by City of Ideas and Yorkshire Artspace, the mural runs the length of the studio building.

Jo Peel says, “Nigel and I have been working together on projects growing in scale and ambition since our first collaboration at Chelsea Flower Show in 2017. Since that moment when we met and discovered the overlapping ideologies in our practices, we have been working towards a project of this scale  -to create a living artwork which would not only look striking and interesting but also have the biophilic benefits of the living wall, in a city centre bus route that will have a real impact on the environment.

Painting on walls in urban environments, I have been struck by what a difference a bit of paint can make to a grey facade - to brighten up surroundings and change the way that a community feels about where they live. But I wanted to take this further and using Nigel's horticultural expertise I have been able to create an artwork that can really affect the environment and take a small step in the right direction of making a greener and more pleasant city to live in.”