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Vishal Joshi is an multi award winning artist whose practice covers a wide range of artistic styles including abstract, figurative, still life, portraiture and graffiti art. His unique mark-making style has received critical acclaim and led to high profile public and private commissions around the world.

 

For Liberty UK Festival, Vishal has developed a series of large ‘hand portraits’ and painted these directly onto the walls at Leicester Museum & Gallery.

 

Hands and hand-gestures are used across all cultures to express emotions and feelings; sometimes confusion and anger, at other times friendship and hope. Hands of Freedom draws on the iconic hand symbology used to express Freedom, Peace and Liberty, and uses this imagery to prompt acknowledgment and appreciation of these most strived for ideals.

 

There are 7 separate ‘hand portrait’ murals at Leicester Museum & Gallery. Some are widely recognised and even have their own emoji’s - such as the as the ‘peace’ symbol and ‘prayer hands’. Others will take more thought and a conversation or two to unpick! See what messages you can find in Hands of Freedom and let us know your thoughts using #LibertyUKFestival 

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Hands of Freedom will be on display in Leicester Museum and Gallery from 21 June. The museum will be operating a booking system for people wishing to visit, please click here to book a free ticket.

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The Hands of Freedom project extends beyond Liberty UK and now has installations at University of Leicester as part of their Centenary programme, and Leicester Cathedral. The full project is produced by No Fixed Abode. Visit Vishal Joshi’s website to find out more.