Oscar Murillo: Turner Prize-winner fills old school hall with canvases

Oscar Murillo attended Cardinal Pole Catholic School between the ages of 11 and 18

A Turner Prize-winning artist has filled his former school hall with tens of thousands of canvases for his latest installation.

Oscar Murillo returned to Cardinal Pole Catholic School in Hackney for the culmination of his Frequencies project.

The work involves more than 40,000 canvases which were sent to schools around the world for pupils to draw and write on during term time.

Murillo said it was "fitting" to finish the project where he once studied.

Students aged between 10 and 16 were invited to draw on the canvases

The artist, who was joint-winner of the Turner Prize in 2019, attended the secondary school between the ages of 11 and 18 after his family had moved to east London from Colombia.

From 2013, he sent blank canvases to over 350 schools in 34 countries with the instruction that they should be fixed to desks for a term for students to scribble on.

Murillo studied at the University of Westminster and the Royal College of Art after leaving school

All the canvases have now been installed in the school's sports hall along with a new series of paintings by Murillo called Disrupted Frequencies.

Viewed together, they are said to "convey the conscious and unconscious energy of young minds at their most absorbent, optimistic and conflicted".

Pupils from 34 countries including Brazil, China, India, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Nepal, South Africa, Sweden and the UK were involved

Describing why he chose to complete the project at his old school, Murillo said the two went together "hand in hand".

He explained: "I remember being in La Paila, Colombia, aged 10 years old, and my dad saying he wanted to travel to the UK.

"In a way, the trauma of being uprooted in this way into a different culture and country is at the core of Frequencies, so it is fitting, almost poetic, that this exhibition should find a home at Cardinal Pole School."

Talks and education workshops are taking place while the work is on display

The exhibition is open between 24 July and 30 August and is free to visit.