New mural adds colour and powerful environmental message to Cambridge building

Last week, Waikato artist Vanessa Barclay unveiled her new award-winning mural ‘THE WORLD IS IN OUR HANDS’, that now graces the back of a building complex in Cambridge.

Vanessa was one of ten artists from across the country who took out the top prize in Keep New Zealand Beautiful’s Resene Nature Murals Competition 2022, to paint a mural with an environmental theme or message and to help beautify an area.

The mural (shown below) features a stylised planet Earth cradled by a pair of hands and framed by a large tree. Having previously worked in Cambridge and having a strong connection to the area, Vanessa wanted to get across a concept of wholeness, and that we collectively hold the climate fate of our home in our own hands.

Vanessa said, “We have a lot of power as humans, and it is in our best interest (now more than ever) to use that power to nurture and protect this precious world. Elements of nature that we can observe are inherently in us, as we are part and parcel of the earth. We can decide what to do, the world is literally in our hands.”

Vanessa used a range of Resene paints for different elements of the mural, including Resene Aqaurius and Dauntless for the Earth; Resene Grasshopper, Karma and Witch Haze for the large tree of life; and Resene Travertine and Wafer for the hands.

The design is located at 30 Albert Street, Cambridge, and covers approximately 60sqm.

2022 Nature Mural - Vanessa Barclay
THE WORLD IS IN OUR HANDS by Vanessa Barclay

Check out the other winners of our Resene Nature Murals Competition here.

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