Oh! You Pretty Things
Brixton is getting a lightning bolt memorial to David Bowie
Bowie Brixton memorial
Brixton is set to receive its own permanent artwork in memoriam to David Bowie.
Local campaigners are consulting with the late musician’s team in London and New York to realise a massive 9m sculpture in the shape of Bowie’s iconic lightning bolt, worn on the cover of his sixth studio album Aladdin Sane, released in 1973.
The campaign aims to raise £990,000 for the sculpture, and has been spearheaded by Brixton Pound and This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll – the creative studio behind the Brixton five pound note, which features Bowie.
Mock-ups of the sculpture show it will take centre stage opposite Brixton Station on Tunstall Road. The significance of the location is double-tiered: five streets away from Bowie’s birthplace on Stansfield Road, and next to Jimmy C’s infamous Aladdin Sane mural, which drew thousands of fans to pay their respects following Bowie’s passing on the 10th of January 2016.
Campaigners have set up rewards for pledges of £20 and up, including the book Great Brixton – championing the rich cultural legacy of the South London town – and memorabilia designed by This Ain’t Rock’N’Roll, including enamel pins, t-shirts and posters for your wall.
Count them as bonus tokens for supporting a legacy that will long outlive us all.
Wake up you sleepy head
Put on some clothes,
shake up your bed
Put another log on the fire for me
I’ve made some breakfast and coffee
Look out my window and what do I see
A crack in the sky
and a hand reaching down to me
– From Oh! You Pretty Things, David Bowie, 1971
Donate to the campaign here.