Harold Offeh’s TRUSTFUL STRANGERS INDUCE FEARLESS WALKS is the third iteration of the Paddington Square x The Showroom annual billboard commission, launching on Thursday 23 July.

The project developed from a series of workshops and conversations between Offeh and a group of young people from The Showroom’s Imagining Futures programme. Through a process of gathering materials, collage, role-play and writing, they explored the idea of public space and the importance of building communities that care and look out for each other, fostering trust in strangers.

In generating the phrase ‘Trustful Strangers Induce Fearless Walks’ they created a statement that speaks to their hopeful desire to increase empathy and mutual trust between anonymous passers-by as they encounter each other in London’s streets and public spaces.

The work is presented on a giant billboard at Paddington Square on the corner of Tanner Lane and Praed Street, extending beyond the billboard’s physical borders via audio clips of spoken-word, poetry, streams of consciousness, reflections and song by the young collaborators. These are accessible via a QR code onsite.

The billboard stands in dialogue with Offeh’s exhibition at The Showroom TRUSTFUL STRANGERS INDUCE FEARLESS ALIENS which brings together a selection of works from Offeh’s 25-year practice; confronting dominant histories and present-day cultural norms. The exhibition runs until 15 August.

Together the two presentations look back and look forward, positioning imagination as a powerful tool for creating more hopeful futures.

With thanks to the young collaborators: Tia Abbas, Ryan Andrade Teixeira, Chinenye Anyaegbu, Aayushi Chauhan, Daina Earlington, Olajumoke Feyisetan, Nicole Gbadebo, Kiana Kaymarie-Viola, Maria Malugin, Anuhya Saxena, Zara William-Gauntlett, Taj Wilmot and Ruby.

Offeh’s billboard is the third iteration of the Paddington Square x The Showroom billboard commission.

This is the final artwork in the ambitious public art programme curated by LACUNA at Paddington Square, which also includes three permanent commissions by Ugo Rondinone, Pae White and Catherine Yas,s alongside two previous artworks in the rotational billboard programme by Long Distance Press and Kathrin Böhm.

Commissioned by Great Western Developments, alongside Sellar as Development Manager, this ambitious art initiative represents a major investment into the public realm, as part of the wider Paddington Square Public Art Programme, curated by LACUNA.

About Harold Offeh
Harold Offeh (b. 1977, Ghana) lives and works in Cambridge and London. Working across performance, video, photography, learning and social arts practice, Offeh is interested in the space created by the inhabiting or embodying of histories. He employs humour as a means to confront the viewer with historical narratives and contemporary culture, grappling with issues such as colonialism, the dynamics of work, labour and gender, and ideals of masculine power.

Offeh has exhibited widely, including at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, South London Gallery, Turf Projects, Kettle’s Yard, Wysing Art Centre, Studio Museum Harlem, MAC VAL, France, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark, Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, and Art Tower Mito. His major survey, Mmm Gotta Try a Little Harder, It Could Be Sweet, was recently exhibited at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. Offeh is currently the Head of Programme in MA Contemporary Art Practice and a visiting lecturer in MA Print at the Royal College of Art, London.