Black Icons Winners Announced.

We are thrilled to announce that the four(!) women chosen to be painted are Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, Mavis Best and  Kristina and Sadé Alleyne. The murals will be painted during the Brockley Max festival from the 2nd to the 10th June. The Steering Committee said:

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah received the most votes from the public and it is no surprise as her tireless work campaigning to introduce the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill – or “Ella’s law”, named after her daughter, who died 10 year’s ago this year from the effects of pollution. Her campaigning will save thousands of lives and a mural is a testament to both Rosamund and Ella.

Mavis Best’s work of fighting racist policing and other discrimination spanned 50 years and even though she received an MBE in 2002, is relatively unknown. She was instrumental in having the infamous “Sus” laws scrapped; a racist law which enabled the police to arrest someone on suspicion alone and which the police used to target black youth. The committee felt that her incredible years of activism and work to change the law which helped hundreds of young people, fits the Untold stories brief.

Kristina and Sadé Alleyne are both women invested in the arts in Lewisham, from teaching children at the Albany & hip-hop at Lewisham Fire station, to students at Lewisham College, Trinity Laban and Goldsmiths.  The quality of their work is recognised internationally, and the committee felt that they represented both the incredible art and culture in Lewisham and being young, represented the future of incredible black women can achieve.