Memorial mural by Sophia den Breems.
2017 started with the sad news that The Hague street musician, Chuck Deely, had passed away. Everyone from The Hague knew his hoarse voice and saw him cycling through the wind every day to play at one of his beloved places in the city. One of those places was the Turfmarkt towards the central Station. The wall in the ‘side extension’ of the tram tunnel was the perfect location to honour Chuck with a mural: close to 'his' spot and well visible to the public.
Together with the Meldpunt Graffiti, an e-participation trajectory (= online voting) was set up where everyone could vote between 3 designs from THSA artists. Within 2 weeks time there was a mass amount voting; over 3500 times. With more than 2000 votes, the illustrative and colourful design of Sophia den Breems was a favourite.
For the execution, there has been close collaboration with the municipality and the HTM (Tram company). Because the trams ride during the day, Sophia and her crew could only work between 1.30am and 5.30am (!). Also, the electricity had to be shut down from the overhead lines when working above 2.5 meters. The painting of +/- 14 x 4.5 meters with its surrounding pillars was realised in about a month’s time.
Both in the participation process of online voting and during the execution phase, there was a lot of media attention for the project and the design of Sophia. She wanted to show Chuck "as beautiful and colourful as possible", just like his music. We will miss Chuck but we are happy with the fantastic mural of Sophia who will keep him alive for a long time. The Chuck mural is the second painting from the series of five 'The Hague Icons' that will be portrayed within the city center.
Photo's: Hans Mahler & Gordon Meuleman.
Photo: Gordon Meuleman
