A series of commissioned murals in Cardiff city center were mistakenly taken away by cleaning staff after ‘devastating’ miscommunication.
The artwork – which covered 11 concrete pillars in the city center – was commissioned by For Cardiff and was created to celebrate diversity by featuring portraits of underrepresented women.
They were painted by three young female artists involved in the PWSH project, including Turner Prize nominee Beth Blandford.
PWSH’s stated goal is to ‘enable emerging and established visual artists born and based in Cardiff to decorate their city center with works of art that celebrate and represent a wide range of local talent’.
“We are absolutely devastated that our artwork on the back of the old Debenhams was taken down yesterday,” PSWH said in an Instagram post on Friday.
“We don’t know why or how it happened, but we’re trying to get to the bottom of it and we’ll keep you all posted when we know more. Apparently there was some sort of “miscommunication” from the downtown cleaning crew. This area is again a soulless mess, ”the statement added.
In his public apology to PWSH, For Cardiff called the incident a “devastating mistake” and vowed he would try to rectify the situation.
“We extend our sincere and sincere apologies to the talented artists, Beth Blandford, Amber Forde and Temeka Davies who took the opportunity to brighten up Cardiff and contribute to its vibrant and exciting culture through their works… We are working with the Creative Director of the project as to how best to rectify this situation as quickly as possible.