Common ground Statement art puts heart of city in The Centre

A HUGE new floor mural celebrating Bristol's 'past, present and future' has been unveiled in The Centre as the focus for the area that previously had fountains on it.

- Tristan CORK

Oisin Davis-Lyons and Steve Hayles show off the 704 square metre artwork yesterday

(Paul Gillis)

The space will be a large central plaza with regular street food markets, all on top of a huge work of art telling the city's story.

The work has taken around three weeks to complete with delays from rainy days - and the artist who designed it told the Post he wanted it 'to bring the city together'. The artwork is called 'Our Common Ground, and has been created in the long space between the Cascade Steps and the statue of Neptune in The Centre.

It has been created by Oisin Davis-Lyons better known as artist Oshii and was commissioned as part of the transformation of the Centre Promenade, after the dried-up fountains were finally dug up and resurfaced to create a bigger area for street food stalls, public events and pedestrians.

The space was handed over to the Bristol Legacy Foundation to come up with a creative art installation. It covers a whopping 704 square metres, with a huge heart at its centre inscribed with the word 'Bristol'.

Oshii, a multidisciplinary artist from Bristol, said: "It's been such an honour to work on this project. It's been overwhelming to see it take shape from my computer screen. It's been a real incredible journey with an amazing team in Upfest and the council and the Legacy Foundation which have brought this to life.