Patrick Comerford
Luke Perry’s ‘Forward Together’ is an impressive sculpture in Lady Holte’s Garden at Aston Hall. It is a celebration of Birmingham’s diversity, creativity and spirit, and takes its name from Birmingham’s motto, ‘Together’.
The steel sculpture is 13 metres long with 25 life-size figures who are representative of the city of Birmingham and who are portrayed as everyday heroes of the Midlands. It has been praised as a masterpiece for diversity and a visible presentation of what happens when people work together, supporting the city’s ethics and values.
Luke Perry said: ‘Our sculpture isn’t the first about representation and it won’t be the last but it does seem to be the loudest, it says ‘We Need Change Now!’.’
At first, ‘Forward Together’ was supposed to spend a full year in Victoria Square in Birmingham. It was unveiled outside the Council House and Town Hall in Victoria Square on 4 July 2021 by Luke Perry and Councillor Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council. It was relocated to Colmore Square by Christmas 2021, and after more than a year there it was moved once again to the gardens at Aston Hall last year (2023).
The steel work was created by a team of artists and features representations of real people in Birmingham who have overcome or are overcoming hardship and adversity – from domestic violence and racism to war and the Holocaust – and who are working ‘Forward Together’.
They are seen working together to lift the city, symbolised by its giant coat of arms, to its full potential. Inspired by the city’s motto ‘Forward’, it brings together a collection of local people as steel silhouettes who are everyday yet extraordinary people.
‘Forward’ has been the motto on Birmingham’s coat of arms since 1833. The three-metre-tall reinterpretation of the city’s coat of arms displays quotes from the Birmingham poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who died last year: ‘Nobody’s here without a struggle’ and ‘We all came here from somewhere’.
Luke Perry’s background is in public art and monumental sculptures representing people who are under-represented and the heritage of the Industrial Revolution, particularly in the Black Country. Forward Together was designed to represent the rich diversity of the Midlands and the UK and to address the imbalance of representation in public monuments.
The installation was created in just 14 days by a team of five – who also represent the region’s diversity – led by Luke Perry. The other team members were the artist Pauline Bailey of the Black Arts Forum and Handsworth Creative based in Birmingham; Raaj Shamji of the Department of Theology and Religion at Birmingham City University and an honorary fellow of the Edward Cadbury Centre; the author Nats Perry; and the musician Haldin (H) Wright.
Some of the team members had never worked in a factory or with metal before and they were trained at the Cradley Heath factory where the monument was made. They were determined to use real people as models to represent the city and to retain the integrity and soul of the message that together people are stronger.
Luke Perry told local newspapers: ‘Growing up, my life has been made a more beautiful, cultural and exciting place because of the richness of difference that surrounded me, the diversity of life is where the colour and light was to be found.’
‘In recent years there seems to be a growing mood of opposition in the world, we all are encouraged to find our tribe, pick a corner and cram ourselves into a pigeonhole’, he said. ‘This piece is a view of an alternative world, yet one that exists and is working if we choose to see it. We all pull together to raise our society out of the shade.’
‘It is my sincere hope that this artwork is just a small part of the massive movement to unite rather than divide our communities which in reality are already together, we just need to see our common loves rather than our exclusive differences,’ he added. ‘In essence this piece was made with love, about love and in the hope that it spreads that love.’
Raaj Shamji, one of the team members, has worked extensively in interfaith relations in Birmingham. He was moved by the positive responses the work received at its unveiling. ‘It’s the start of a conversation where we all need to think hard on our place called Earth’ he said. ‘How can we create opportunities for communities to build better sustainable relationships at all levels not just via community leaders or those we think have the responsibility.’
‘It’s a responsibility for all of us,’ he said. ‘But those in position need to create opportunities for fair and safe conversations where people express themselves. We need to focus on how we create opportunities for conversations. Art is a wonderful starting point.’
Luke Perry’s other public sculptures include his striking six-metre tall steel figure of Æthelflæd in Tamworth. She stands in the centre of the roundabout outside the train station, at the junction of Victoria Road and Albert Road and was commissioned to honour Tamworth’s Anglo-Saxon past in a 21st century way.
Æthelflæd was put in place six years ago (20 May 2018). She greets people as they step off the train and points them towards the town centre along Victoria Road, inviting them to follow the direction of her spear to Tamworth Castle and Saint Editha’s Church.
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