It may seem pointless painting a roof hardly anyone can see, but this artist wanted to create something facing ‘heavenward’. Lakwena Maciver, 35, took the grey, dull rooftop of Temple tube station in central London, and created a technicolour garden, alive with trees and bright, geometric shapes painted onto the floor.
Next to a ‘safe space’ hut, large letters state: ‘Nothing can separate us’. The Artist’s Garden has been four years in the making, with Westminster Council giving it the green light for its new arts festival Inside Out/Westminster Reveals. You can find the rooftop garden by simply walking up the stairs at the station. Once above street level, Londoners can enjoy spectacular views of the Thames and the South Bank.
It will also surely provide another setting for influencers and would-be photographers to capture a perfect picture for the ‘gram’. Sticking with the themes of the capital, Lakwena’s home, the garden has a hut modelled after the iconic black cabbie shelters – little green buildings that have served as cafes for cab drivers since 1875. This hut is supposed to act as a ‘safe space within a safe space’. The Ugandan British artist has created installations all over, from the Tate Britain and the Southbank Centre, to a juvenile detention centre in Arkansas and a monastery in Vienna.
6 October 2021
