Hooded Gainsborough Primary School pupils leave desks to spraypaint playground wall

Pupils set to work as part of the spray paint art project

Pupils abandoned their desks earlier this month and swapped pencil cases for aerosol canisters to leave their mark on a wall in their school playground.

Luckily this was all in the name of art.

Ekta Ekta, an artist from Gothenburg, Sweden, swooped in to help guide the young painters from Gainsborough Primary School in Hackney Wick.

The school is a duck’s wing beat from the Lee Navigation canal and close to where Ekta has painted several canalside works at Queen’s Yard.

Children from Year Six brainstormed ideas for their colourful mural with Cedar Lewisohn, an artist, curator and expert in street art.

Mr Lewisohn, 35, said: “The kids were so excited about it, especially about the idea of being able to use spray paint.

“I went in and gave an introductory talk and they kept saying ‘Are we going to be able to use spray paint?’

“One person would ask the question and then a few minutes later someone else would put their hand up and say ‘But are we going to be able to use spray paint?’ They were really keen on the idea.”

Ekta is one of several international artists who was commissioned by charity The Legacy List to create canal murals, and the organisation is being supported by Bloomberg LP, and is a creative partnership with the Canal and River Trust.

Other artists who have been commissioned to create canalside works include Interesni Kazki, from Kiev, Ukraine, and Teo Moneyless from Lucca, Italy.

Tony Hales, chair at Canal & River Trust, said, “East London’s urban canals and rivers have been regenerated by the Olympic Games and the Canal & River Trust is pleased to be supporting The Canals Project, which will continue this transformation. This tremendously exciting project is part of an evolving dialogue about how art can change perceptions, particularly amongst young people, of the waterways that run through the heart of their communities.”