In 2020, a

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

of footballer

Marcus Rashford Marcus Rashford (born 31 October 1997) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa, on Loan (association football), lo ...

by street artist Akse P19 was painted in the

Withington Withington is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies from Manchester city centre, south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Withington had a population at the 2011 ce ...

area of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, United Kingdom. The mural was created in recognition of the work Rashford did during the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...

to help tackle child food poverty. After Rashford had missed a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the

UEFA Euro 2020 Final The UEFA Euro 2020 final was an association football match that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 11 July 2021, to determine the winners of UEFA Euro 2020. It was the sixteenth final of the UEFA European Championship, a qua ...

in July 2021, the mural was vandalised, prompting locals to post messages of support for Rashford before its restoration.

Description

Based on a photograph by Daniel Cheetham, the painting of

was completed in 2020 by street artist Akse, in collaboration with the street art project Withington Walls, to commemorate the footballer's work to reduce child hunger. The mural is a

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

portrait painting Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...

, and appears on an exterior wall of Coffee House Café on Copson Street, near where Rashford was raised in

Old Moat Old Moat is a suburban area of Manchester, England. The population of its electoral ward at the 2011 census was 14,490. History Old Moat estate The "Old Moat estate" is a large estate of 1920s built social housing named after a former mano ...

. The mural's quote, which reads, "Take pride in knowing that your struggle will play the biggest role in your purpose", was taken from a letter published as part of a campaign with

Burberry Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and headquartered in London, England. It designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats, leather accessories, and footwear. It is l ...

to fund youth centres.

History

Aske spoke with Rashford while completing the artwork in November 2020 and said, "I hope the mural will inspire the local community as he has inspired the whole nation with his campaign to fight child food poverty." To celebrate

Black History Month Black History Month is an annually observed commemorative month originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the Af ...

in 2021, a close-up of the mural was featured on

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expa ...

Vandalism

The painting was vandalized with the words "shite in a bucket, bastard", "fuck

Sancho The name Sancho () is an Iberian name of Basque origin (Santxo, Santzo, Santso, Antzo, Sans). Sancho stems from the Latin name Sanctius. Feminine forms of the name are Sancha, Sancia, and Sanchia (), and the common patronymic is Sánchez and ...

", and "fuck

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

" after those players and Rashford failed to score in a penalty shootout for

in the

, which meant

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

won the shootout 3–2. The

Mayor of Greater Manchester The mayor of Greater Manchester is the directly elected metro mayor, mayor of Greater Manchester, responsible for strategic governance in the region that includes health, transport, housing, strategic planning, waste management, policing, the G ...

Andy Burnham Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017 Greater Manchester mayoral election, 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Brown ministry, Cabinet as Chief Secretary to th ...

, described the mural defacement as a "despicable, shameful act". Ed Wellard, co-founder of Withington Walls, worked to cover the profanity immediately; residents created a collage of supportive messages, flags, and hearts across the artwork, and Akse restored the mural. On 16 July,

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been re ...

announced plans to preserve the items left at the mural following the vandalism. A representative of the council described the public's response as a "Manchester moment we will all remember and should not forget", and BT created a virtual replication of the messages named the "Wall of Hope". A spokesperson for

Greater Manchester Police Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. , Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...

(GMP) said, "While the content of the vandalism is not believed to be of a racial nature, officers are keeping an open mind as to the motive behind defacing the artwork". Hundreds of people participated in an anti-racism demonstration at the mural, leaving Rashford "lost for words". Rashford was moved by the messages of support. He shared images of the collage and tweeted, "The communities that wrapped their arms around me continue to hold me up... I can take critique of my performance all day long... but I will never apologise for who I am and where I came from." In October 2021, GMP released

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

footage of a hooded man within the vicinity of the mural at 23:40 BST on 11 July, who they believed may be responsible for the crime.

Reception

Bradley Ormesher of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' described the mural as "impressive" and "a real tourist attraction".

References

External links

'He's an inspiration': crowds gather at Marcus Rashford mural in Manchester – video
''The Guardian'' * , BBC News * {{cite journal , title=The Marcus Rashford mural – an anatomy of a moral panic , journal=

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...