Artist manages to create piece for New Year’s Day Parade in four days

An artist was given the tough assignment of creating a piece for London’s New Year’s Day Parade, which is watched by hundreds of millions of people, in just four days.

Artist Shahina Jaffer, from Bermondsey, was selected by Lambeth council to create a piece of work that reflected the diversity of the borough.

She found out she would be creating the art piece late on December 23 but was not able to start work on it until December 27 due to Christmas and family commitments.

What followed was a feat of “community” as those around Shahina pitched in to help her complete the piece by New Year’s Day.

“We decided to call it A Community A Head,” said Shahina. “After completing this I became aware of two extremely important truths.

“First, that the phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” is true, and that “it takes a community to make a cultural head” is also true.”

Shahina affectionately called the nearly 2m-high artwork ‘Polly,’ as it is partly made of polystyrene.

“There were numerous obstacles to overcome,” she said. “Polly is multifaceted, like a human being, she has layers that keep her together. She stands, like many of us.

“Every part of her aesthetically embodies culture. From the side of her face that displays her ancestry to the way her hair is coiled in a classic pattern and her striking gold brass neck.

“She cares about ecology and a lot of the materials to make her have been reused.

“Making Polly was an extremely demanding process, an incredible experience and a labour of love.”

Shahina managed to get the work finished on time, and walked through the parade with Polly, where half a million people had gathered in attendance.

“The parade was absolutely wonderful,” she said. “At moments it was daunting. Polly was wobbling like she’d had a late night at Hootenannys. But it felt like the royal wedding or something with all the people cheering.”

Shahina said the work would not have been possible without the help of friends and people in the community such as the Livesey Exchange in the Old Kent Road, where Polly was built.

“Every part of the way I had someone by my side helping me,” said Shahina. “It was daunting but I knew my community would get behind me.”

Pictured top: Shahina, left, and a helper walk Polly through the parade (Picture: Aish)