Above Below Beyond

A permanent mural on the gable end of The Volunteer Arms in Seaham, County Durham, commissioned by East Durham Creates in response to ‘This Place We Call Home’. Holman designed the work; it was painted by the artist Cosmo Sarson.

It grew out of almost a year of workshops with young people across East Durham — digital music making built around the Roland 808 and 303, band recording, songwriting, poetry, performance, DJing, collage and banner making. A youth panel drawn from those sessions shaped what the mural became, starting from a single question: how do young people in East Durham want to be remembered?

The painting takes the form of a traditional trade union marching banner, in the reds and golds of silk, with two miners at its centre. Above is the landscape and the communities that exist there now; Below is the heritage left by the coal industry; Beyond is what the young people said they wanted for the future.

A launch with a banner parade, choreographed physical theatre and food referencing the ‘snaps’ taken down the mines was stopped by the pandemic. The mural was installed in August 2020. “One of the things young people told us, right at the start, was that they wanted an artwork that made them proud of their area,” Holman said. “They wanted an artwork that would remain after the project finished.”

Produced by Uncultured Creatives and curated by Alex Zawadzki.