Buxton artist's Grenfell Tower piece on display this weekend

Laura Hyland has been working on her charcoal drawing, which features the faces of those watching the Grenfell Tower fire disaster unfold, for six months.

Now the piece is being installed in the Green Man Gallery in Buxton ahead of the fifth anniversary of the tragedy.

The 63-year-old artist said: “I’m from London and the fire impacted me greatly. I also had friends who lost family during the fire.

"With the fifth anniversary coming up I knew I wanted to do something to bring it back into conversation.”

Laura’s work, Remembering Grenfell, is drawings of actual people who appeared on the news who were watching the London tower block fire.

She said: “I didn’t have a studio so I hung it on my kitchen wall and to have that looking at me for such a long time was quite emotional.”

On June 14, 2017, 74 people died and more than 70 were injured after a fire broke out in the 24-storey high rise block of flats in West London.

It is the UK’s worst residential fire since World War Two and for those who lost loved ones there are still many unanswered questions.

Laura said: “There is so much going on in the world and other things are now at the forefront of people’s minds.

"But for those who saw the tragedy or lost family there is a continued fight for justice.”

Laura is now a resident artist at the Green Man Gallery and her piece will be on display on June 10, 11 and 12.

She will be creating an installation surrounding the drawing using pictures of the messages left by the public as well as newspaper clippings and toys too along with poetry and her own thoughts.

She added: “This is still such a raw subject for so many and this work isn’t about selling something and making a few quid, it’s much more than that. I want to get people talking, and thinking, remembering what has happened and remembering all those who lost their lives in that terrible tragedy."

The Green Man Gallery at Hardwick Studios, Buxton, is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10.30am.

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