Open Arms
GARETH STEVENS reflects on the new mural in Robertson Street
Over a relatively short number of years Hastings and St Leonards has become a veritable treasure trove of high-quality street art. Our free urban gallery thus bears testament to both the intense climate of creativity and sense of community we share. Our grassroots murals give us such a positive counterpoint to the capitalist propaganda of billboard advertising – they reclaim our streets and celebrate the town’s shared values.
Left to Right: The artist, Diana Carolina Lopez, Rossana Leal (CEO, Refugee Buddy Project), Steph Warren (Director, Stella Dore Gallery), Vicky Duffey (Owner, Bullet Coffee House)
Abraham O. relocated from El Salvador around two years ago and before he received his right to remain in the UK he was ‘dispersed’ to Hastings. Friends suggested he contact the Refugee Buddy Project and through this, and because he was already an established street artist in Central America, he began an association with Stella Dore Gallery in St Leonards and they have supported his work ever since.
Abraham has already made a significant contribution to our local street art scene. In May 2023 he completed a very impressive work on a huge wall of the W.Ave Arts building on the Bexhill Road, West St Leonards. The mural features Sir David Attenborough: broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. It is a stunning portrait that shows just what a very talented painter Abraham is.
During last year’s Refugee Week, Abraham decorated the large window of the Dove Café with painted portraits of some of Hastings asylum seekers. Once his own future in the UK became more secure (he received his right to remain in late 2023), he decided to move to London to further his creative career. However that has not stopped him from being involved in this year’s Refugee Week programme. As a result of the second year of receiving Arts Council Funding, the 2024 week was its most comprehensive and exciting to date.
Rossana Leal, Founder and CEO of the Refugee Buddy project, works tirelessly to not only support refugees and asylum seekers, but to build a climate of welcome. She believes that this is essential to opposing the current government’s deliberate aim to create a ‘hostile environment’. The Refugee Week in Hastings is just one of the many ways the Buddy Project seeks to celebrate the creativity, culture and contributions of newly settled migrants and those seeking asylum.
The strong sense of openness and support Abraham felt during his stay in our town led him to want to give something back. What a tremendous gift he has given us! The mural he has created on the wall outside Bullet Coffee House is stunning. It features a portrait of one of the asylum seekers who resided at the Chatsworth Hotel when it was furtively purloined by the home office to hold recently arrived refugees and migrants last year. The man holds his hands aloft, clapping with gratitude. Another pair of arms holds a clutch of received items – a pair of boots, a bowl that signifies nourishment and the iconic black net shops and the Stade beyond which becomes the design of his collared tee shirt. A third set of hands holds a banner which asserts ‘Hastings Welcomes Refugees’.
Vicky Duffey, the owner of Bullet Coffee House, tells me just how thrilled she was to be able to participate in this project. Of mixed heritage herself, she spoke of just how important it is to make a commitment to changing the narrative surrounding the ‘migrant issue’. Most of the men housed at the Chatsworth and Lansdowne hotels had reason to frequent Robertson Street, she tells me, mainly when making their way to the Refugee Buddy Project offices which used to be based there. Many of the cafes and shops along this road extended a warm and hospitable welcome to them and Vicky says: “It is so lovely that we now have a visual representation of our ‘open arms’ for all to see.”
Please go along and see it for yourself. Therefugeebuddyproject.
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