Great reworking of the classic Leake Street Tunnel board by Pad.

It finally happened, Femme Fierce Reloaded, organized by Ayaan Bulale, hit Leake Street for the second year running to raise money and awareness for the Plan UK charity “Because I Am A Girl” campaign, which sets to end such acts as forced marriage and FGM in children. All on International Women’s Day and with 150 or so female artists participating, travelling from all over the UK, Europe and the rest of the globe, in the largest all female paint jam ever. We at London Calling Blog arrived at just after 8am in order to be there to enjoy the fun and festivities of the next eleven hours, which promised to be an exceptional event and certainly didn’t disappoint. Just Incredible, anyone who took part viewing the days events and the magic worked will agree, I am sure.

Bright and early at 8am, the artists were waiting to register and receive their paint, paid for through a successful Kickstarter campaign,and get the event started.

The girls painting the walls blue, the colour of the charity campaign, in preparation of the days festivities beginning.

Over the next hour more and more artists showed up and got started in the tunnel and the paint jam hitting full swing. Before long the artists were painting, the public were passing through and music was being played from the centre of the tunnel by a DJ, really generating the full festival experience. The all female ensemble of artists seemed to enjoy themselves throughout the day and made for a really carnival atmosphere, all the while making the intricate, intense and dedicated works they were laboring away on, look easy. There was also a section of activities set up for kids  to paint, run by “the next gen” making sure the event was inclusive to all ages.

Fio Silva working away at a fast pace on her contribution to the festival.

Annatomix’s outline work.

One of Zabou’s stencils.

Work by Ebony Eames, the youngest painter of the day in the main tunnel participating for the Secret Soceity of Super Villains. 

Amara Por Dios at work in the middle of the day.

Maggio working on her wall.

Suzko with her work and that of Stedhead’s to the left which certainly complemented each other.

Handle My Mind.telling it how it is, Femme Fierce.

Cbloxx at work on what was to be a stand out work of the day.

Pang laying out her piece based on Venus. A pleasure to see being made.

Giusi Tomasello adding some features by brush.

Zina nearing the end of her superb contribution to the day, an Egyptian Queen.

One of my favourite pictures of the day. It appears as if Annatomix’s 3D creation is set to smite her as she signs her name, bringing the piece to life. A pleasure to witness this artists work for the first time. Hope we get to see more in London some time.

Zabou who completely immersed herself in the spirit of her piece. She clearly had fun today.

Amaro Por Dios, finished after a long days work, with yet another amazing work. Love the spray cans addition.

Here are a selection of the finished works. Unfortunately due to the incredible number of works created today, it is not possible to feature everyone, so apologies to anyone not featured and here are a selection of our favourites at London Calling Blog from the incredible day.

Georgie, with a very fitting piece to the cause of Plan UK Because I Am A Girl campaign. Powerful piece.

Lisart’s stencil with her superbly chosen subject of Rosa Parks, very Femme Fierce, great work again Lisart.

Elno’s large work was delightful and blended in well with the two pieces following to the right, by Stedhead and Suzko.

Stedhead

Suzko.

Simoni Fontana, over from Greece.

Maggio, who once again was painting at super speed and appeared to be done in no time it seemed.

Towering large scale Stencil work from Thieu.
Impressive work from Mishfit.

Giusi Tomasello who was out painting only her fourth wall, and she did it with style. Love the motif of the strong female goddess/warrior. Very fitting. 

Amara Por Dios, who it is always a pleasure to witness some work from, was an absolute pleasure to witness her work a whole piece on a large wall for a second time now. 

Vanessa Longchamp’s piece with what at first appears to be a soft character, but is in fact a dark warning of life in forced marriage. Very fitting piece for the campaign which Femme Fierce was supporting.

Zina, of whom it was the third time here at London Calling Blog in a week that we have been privileged enough to witness her work her magic, with an excellent and large scale portrait of an Egyption Female Pharoah. Love the eyes. Fantastic work Zina.

Roo.

SLM-Art.

Hannah Adamaszek who laid out this delightful work, in her trademark style.

Powerful piece, highlighting a key issue of the charity campaign by SOS.

Neonita’s work just shone in the Leake Street Tunnel, really was eye catching and buzzing almost. 

Pixie painted this delightful Buddhist Sloth, offering a message of peace. What a fun work.

Miss Hazard was down from Bristol and put up this large female portrait, consuming and captivating hair style with so much going on, great work.

Handle My Mind.

Bethan’s second ever wall.

Zabou’s “School Is Over Girls. Reload”, one of the days highlights. Following yesterdays “Dream Big” work in Shoreditch, Zabou went for a more fun twist on the depiction of female empowerment through her work today.

Fio Silva, winner of the Spring Projects ‘Next Big Thing’ talent search, painting her 4th wall in London in four days, all of which we here have been incredibly fortunate to witness, three being made in their entirety, topped by getting to see her create today. On her first trip out of South America she today painted for the main event of her trip, Femme Fierce Reloaded. Can see why she won the competition, astounding piece from a talented artist. Remember it was courtesy of The Springs Project & Femme Fierce Reloaded that brought her to you first.

Mondi.

Annatomix. 

Joy2See.

Lilly Lou.

Jane Laurie.

Aylo & Cbloxx of the Nomad Clan, who really hit out one of the days highlights. Excellent work you two, stand out work for sure.

Pang, with a great work in her true style but with a classical twist.

Floats understated work, which really has so much going on in. Really love the light bulb motive, especially the hot air balloon bulb.

Mish.

Eroka.

Adriana Doi.

JDK.

Toriah Jaymes, with a nice 80-s retro style colour palette.

Anthea Missy, who superbly altered her normal focus point of the image in order to depict a child locked within a caged wedding ring. Powerful piece on a key theme of the Because I Am A Girl campaign. Excellent message Anthea Missy, true to the cause.

At 7pm after 11 hours in the tunnel, it was time to call it a day, but what a fantastic day, it was just sublime to witness so much incredible art being made and the carnival atmosphere that this generated, which had to be witnessed to believed. Throughout the entire day there was a constant flow of people passing through relentlessly to enjoy the event, by mid-afternoon the central part of the tunnel was consistently packed out, resembling a trip through rush hour London, to admire the event. What an event it was, we at London Calling are incredibly grateful to have been able to be there and witness the formidable event.

We would like to say thanks and congratulations to Ayaan Bulale for an excellent event, just incredible. Thanks to all the talented and friendly artists working away through the day. As well as a thank you to Inspiringcity.com for much information regarding the Femme Fierce Reloaded campaign, before and at the event, immensely appreciated. Finally we wish Plan UK the best of luck in its campaign. What a perfect day.

Over the coming days we will be posting some feature pieces on our favourite individual artists work from Femme Fierce Reloaded, showcasing their work throughout the entire day. Be sure to check back soon.