Courtney Madley, Grace Atkins, Junnan Zhu, Katarina Kemp & Tezni Williams 2024

This collaborative artwork was created during a Turing Scheme UK funded residency of 32 days. Under-graduates from University of Southampton and Winchester School of Art worked with local inhabitants and association members taking inspiration from their experiences and exchanges after visiting cultural sites and local heritage, volunteering and creative workshops.

When we first arrived here in Riba-roja, we spent a lot of time visiting all the different areas of the town and the surrounding environment and were amazed by how strong and vibrant the community is. Everyone has been so welcoming to us and allowed us to see into their lives here, and so we thought we would create a mural that reflects what we’ve experienced so far. We wanted to capture the important social elements and history of the town in our mural, focusing on things like the traditional jotta dancing outside the church, the bakery and the pool.

We have also have seen so much wildlife whilst we’ve been here and so wanted to highlight the importance of the natural landscape of the area by including things like the nature reserve, river, dam and of course the boars! Overall we wanted to make a mural that was a celebration of the town and a guide to anyone who visits here to show them all the wonderful things that happen in Riba-roja.