Award winning street artist Paul Curtis has taken a break from painting his Toad Hall mural in Southport to create a moving tribute to inspirational Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams.
Paul Curtis, who has spent the past two weeks working on his beach-themed mural at Toad Hall in Ainsdale, spent some time this week designing this superb tribute to Formby Mum Anne Williams, who tragically lost her son Kevin at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
Kevin was among 97 Liverpool FC fans who lost their lives after they went to watch the FA Cup semi final against Nottingham Forest in South Yorkshire.
His Mum spent the next quarter of a century fighting hard to secure justice for Kevin and all of the other football fans who went to watch a football match and never came home that day.
The mural, in Anfield, shows Anne Williams with her fist clenched after securing fresh inquests for the victims of the Hillsborough disaster, including her son Kevin, back in 2012, just a year before she died.
Paul Curtis said: “She is a symbol of the city, a hero and an amazing woman. It’s been an absolute honour to work on this mural.
“Anne Williams fought hard for a new enquiry into the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, her actions being prompted by the death of her own son Kevin at Hillsborough, who had been crushed to death in the disaster.
“She was a mother-of-three from Formby who worked part-time in a newsagents, and levelled several legal attacks at the first Hillsborough inquest, questioning the credibility of its findings.
“Her fight was long but she was unwavering and should always be seen as a shining light of perseverance and standing up for justice against the odds.”
Anne Williams sadly died on 18th April 2013, taken by cancer.
Paul Curtis is today back in Ainsdale, as he looks to add to his three-storey mural at Toad Hall – his biggest project to date.
When it is completed, it is believed to be the biggest British mural created outside of London. The work has been commissioned by Sefton Council.
Paul Curtis was awarded the title of Liverpool City Region Artist of the Year by the LCR Culture & Creativity Awards in 2020, after painting a giant 15m four-storey high mural of Red Rum on the gable end of a row of buildings on the corner of Scarisbrick Avenue and the Promenade. The work was commissioned for Sefton Borough of Culture.
Paul has also created: a mural of Red Rum inside The Atkinson on Lord Street in Southport; a Red Rum mural outside The Bold Hotel on Lord Street in Southport; and an Audrey Hepburn mural outside David H Myers Opticians on London Street in Southport.
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