A brand-new commission by internationally acclaimed artist Morag Myerscough will feature on King Street as part of this year’s Bristol Light Festival. Morag’s strong visual approach is instantly recognisable, and the stunning new artwork has been created specifically for this year’s event.
Morag’s brightly coloured, bold and eye-catching pieces have been displayed around the world and it is a real honour for Bristol Light Festival to have a bespoke piece created for the event. ‘Let us Shine’ is a joyful celebration of colour, light and individuality. We spoke to Morag to find out more about the installation and how it’s been created.
Tell us a little more about your new artwork for Bristol Light Festival and how it has been created.
I was thrilled to be invited to make a new piece for this year’s Bristol Light Festival and it’s been a really enjoyable process creating ‘Let Us Shine’. Every piece I create is new and individual, however I often repurpose materials and repaint panels from previous artworks, into a completely new piece. This process of reworking and repurposing makes the artworks more sustainable and means sometimes I must work within certain parameters whilst creating the vision I have for the piece.
What is the inspiration behind ‘Let Us Shine’?
I wanted to make an artwork that responded to the historical location of King Street, where the artwork will feature at Bristol Light Festival. Before beginning the design process, I walked along the cobbled road and fell in love with the buildings and architectural details. There is so much history and is such a well-known street in the city that I wanted the artwork to give a nod to this.
It uses bright colours, neon paint and black light to allowing the colours to play with one another to create interesting shapes and angles, whilst incorporating architectural features so it isn’t completely abstract.
I choose colours depending on how they interact, play and connect with one another and the context it is in, you can make their appearance change in different lights and next to certain shades, which I find so exciting and fascinating, a passive sheet of ply can become animated using colour and light.
A lot of your artworks have messages behind them, what does 'Let Us Shine’ mean to you?
For me, ‘Let Us Shine’ means everyone being able to be who they want to be and who they are, not being told how to be or what to say or do. There is a direct connection between ‘shine’ and it being an artwork that uses light but the real meaning behind it is freedom and strength.
However I don’t always like to define the statements in my work – I prefer for those experiencing the artwork to interpret what it means to them; it becomes more personal and meaningful that way.