Cardiff: 'Mona Lisa' mural repainted after McDonald's ad removed

Artist Yusuf Ismail said the new artwork was better than the original in some ways

A mural which was painted over to make way for a McDonald's advert has been repainted on a nearby wall.

The image of pregnant Maimuna Indjai in a Cardiff City shirt was first painted in 2021 and dubbed Butetown's "Mona Lisa".

In January, it was painted over and was due to be replaced by a McDonald's advert.

The finishing touches to the creases on the shirt are now being added to a second version over the road.

Creative director Yusuf Ismail said in some ways the new artwork was slightly better, thanks to a better quality wall.

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"You look for the silver lining in any given situation," he said.

"We wanted to do this quite quietly and put it back as quickly as possible. We didn't announce we were going to do it.

"McDonald's have been incredible, they really wanted to make sure we reinstated the mural and behind the scenes were very engaged in making that happen."

McDonald's said it was unaware of the original mural when it was painted over

At the time the company said it did not know about the mural and had "instructed the artist to repaint his original immediately".

In October 2021 the mural was vandalised in what South Wales Police classified as a hate crime.

Mr Ismail added: "The mural was based on a photograph as part of wider a project called My City, My Shirt. The photo was the key portrait from that series.

"That piece of art was very iconic for a number of reasons - post-pandemic, post-Black Lives Matter, it was a piece reflective of the times we've experiences globally.

"It was Cardiff, it was Wales very much at the forefront of that."

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