Art meets aquaculture at Hackney WickED

The new graffiti at Forman's restaurant, Fish Island Photo: © Hackney Citizen

The Hackney WickED Festival kicked off on Friday with artistic revelry in three dozen galleries and studios in Hackney Wick.

One of the more unusual pieces on display was the pair of murals decorating the toilets of Forman’s fish smokery. The murals are the work of a trio of graffiti artists, Mr Laet, Jyst and Bas, who have emblazoned the ladies’ and gents’ with their images.

The works incorporate a variety of motifs that connect with the surrounding space, from the fish produced by the factory to the porthole-style windows that adorn its façade.

Mr Laet was motivated to create the work in part to demonstrate the vitality of the genre. “Graffiti is an art form; people criticise it but we wanted to show that when we paint, we put a lot of effort into what we do and it takes just as long as other types of work’.

Forman’s are glad to have played this somewhat unusual role in the art festival. Amidst the studios and galleries that host the majority of the exhibitions at the event, the fish factory stands out both for its size and its function.

Having been displaced from its former site by the Olympics, the firm has re-asserted itself nearby, constructing a sleek factory-cum-restaurant in the shape of a fish with a stunning view over the Lea Navigation and the Olympic Park.

Its participation in the Hackney Wick festival is testimony to the way it understands what it does. Lance Forman, great-grandson of Harry Forman who started the firm in 1905, says of the graffiti masters, “they consider themselves artisans, as do we, and we like that. We’re really pleased with the work they’ve done.”

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