New maritime artwork for £4.3m Queens Gardens revamp

REFURBISHMENT: An artist’s impression of how the new Queens Gardens will look

The £4.3m refurbishment of Queens Gardens is set to feature a number of permanent art installations to celebrate Hull’s rich maritime heritage.

The installations, by internationally renowned artists Katayoun Dowlatshahi and Heinrich & Palmer, will include a new seating area in the Peace Garden, integrated artworks on amphitheatre-style seating, and maritime-inspired works and lighting along the boundary of the gardens.

Hull City Council has now submitted a planning application for the regeneration project, which includes better public access, improvements to the boundary walls, and the restoration of the Rose Bowl fountain.

The plans also incorporate eco-friendly features, including electric vehicle charging points, the introduction of plants and trees to increase the gardens’ biodiversity, and the incorporation of designs and functions that will allow the area to be used for flood alleviation.

Councillor Daren Hale, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Economic Investment, said: “As part of the refurbishment of Queens Gardens we wanted to use the regenerated space to celebrate and tell the story of our rich maritime heritage.

“These creative and engaging art installations will help tell our story, ensuring that our history plays an important part in the bright future of our city.”

A programme of artist commissions runs throughout the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City project, which includes the Queens Gardens redevelopment.

‘CREATIVE AND ENGAGING’: Visualisations of the new artwork destined for Queens Gardens

The artwork in the gardens will create focal points and new features, and will be integrated with the sign-posting, lighting and landscaping.

The Peace Garden area at the eastern end of the gardens was originally established in 1986, the UN’s International Year of Peace, and has been associated ever since with the Quakers, who hold annual meetings there to commemorate Hiroshima Day.

Dowlatshahi has consulted with the Quakers to create a new feature from a sympathetic redesign of this area, incorporating an informal space for contemplation and seating.

The scrimshaw steps design, which will form part of a new amphitheatre-style seating area, is derived from elements of the Hull Maritime Museum collection. 

Scrimshaw is a folk art rooted in the whaling trade and describes scratching or carving designs into by-products of whaling, including teeth and bone, and rubbing soot or another types of pigment into the carving to create the design. Sailors did this during their long periods of waiting for a catch on their voyages. 

Dowlatshahi proposes to collage and scale up fragments of images directly from selected items within the scrimshaw collection across sections of the steps and to install a design in the central area of the gardens referencing historic voyages of ships that have sailed from Hull.

Heinrich & Palmer, who brought their installation Ship of the Gods to the city in 2018 as part of Urban Legends: Northern Lights by Absolutely Cultured, have been commissioned to create installations for the boundary of the gardens which will include maritime-inspired markers

They will also be producing designs for artistic lighting for the refurbished space.