​Cricklewood station mural celebrates female achievers and 100 years of women’s suffrage

A mural has been created at Cricklewood station as a tribute to the famous aviator Amy Johnson, who lived nearby. The mural, by renowned urban artist Lakwena, is one of 20 installations across London celebrating remarkable local women to mark the centenary of the first steps in women’s suffrage in the UK. The capital-wide scheme, called LDN WMN, is part of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign celebrating the vital yet often overlooked contribution women have made to city life.

The Cricklewood Town Team, a community volunteer group that works to improve the local environment, used their close relationship with GTR to secure the station as the site for their part of London to take part in the scheme. Through the Team’s partnership with Thameslink, Cricklewood station already has a burgeoning array of public art by local artists.

Amy Johnson moved into a new apartment on Hendon Way in 1930 shortly after becoming the first woman to fly solo to Australia. Besides many other achievements as a pilot, Amy Johnson was the first woman in Britain to qualify as an aircraft engineer.

Street artist Lakwena, herself a Londoner, is an internationally acclaimed artist who has created large-scale murals in her distinctive bright geometric style in Paris, Vienna, Miami and Las Vegas as well as other community projects in London.

Marie Hancock of the Town Team said: “We are thrilled that Cricklewood is one of the 20 locations in London to benefit from these free public artworks celebrating local women. The Town Team had only a short timescale to secure a location in Cricklewood for this project and thanks to our great working relationship and partnership with GTR, we were able to confirm Cricklewood Station as the location.“

GTR’s community partnership manager Katherine Cox said: “We are proud to be able to host this prestigious artwork to commemorate Votes for Women, highlighting women’s achievements. It’s a very striking piece of art that our passengers will enjoy for years to come. Cricklewood people are very passionate about making their station attractive and our partnership with the Town Team has created striking art and landscaping that makes for a highly distinctive station ambience.”

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Notes to editors

The LDN WMN trail of 20 murals by women and non-binary artists has been curated by the Tate Modern. As well as Amy Johnson in Cricklewood, the project honours the achievements of, for instance, broadcaster Una Marson, World War II heroine Inayat Khan, textile designer Marion Dorn and musician Evelyn Dove. For further details see https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/other-venue/festival/ldn-wmn