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Paul Magrs, a writer for over 20 years and an aspiring artist attended a vigil in Manchester’s Sackville Gardens earlier this summer to honour the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando.
The moving experience of his participation inspired Paul to capture the scene in one of his latest artworks. Motivated by the community spirit surrounding the event, he has decided to sell prints of his painting to raise money for Manchester based LGBTQ community initiatives.
During the vigil hundreds of people lined Manchester’s Gay Village, taking part in a mass handhold as people were united to honour those killed in the Orlando massacre.
Artist, Paul Magrs, said: “The vigil at Sackville Gardens was incredibly moving. Despite the rain the place was packed. Standing in a crowd of all kinds of people, united in grief and common purpose, was so uplifting. It inspired me to paint the view from where I’d been standing, in the middle of the park, with all these brollies around me, hardly able to see the stage or the front at all – just the multi-coloured balloons going up into the sky over the Gay Village.
“As I usually do, I posted the picture on Facebook and Twitter, one of the things that keep me drawing and painting is the lovely feedback I get on social media. When people asked whether they could buy a print of the piece I decided at once that I’d like to donate the proceeds to LGBTQ charities. I hope that as well as raising funds for a very worthwhile cause, it raises awareness and passes on a little of the magical atmosphere of that evening when it seemed for a while like we were all connected around the world in solidarity and love.”
Also commenting, the Lord Mayor of Manchester Councillor Carl Austin-Behan, on behalf of the We Love MCR Charity said, ‘’In the wake of such a barbaric attack on both the members of the LGBTQ community and their values it’s heart-warming to see the solidarity shown by Mancunians and the world’s LGBTQ community to condemn all acts of terror and violence.
“I was so proud of the way Mancunians got together to denounce this despicable hate crime. Paul’s generous gesture epitomises the outpouring of positive spirit shown in defiance of the dreadful atrocity. The vigil was truly a community led event and it’s fitting that the money raised from the sale of Paul’s painting will now go to fund laudable local community based initiatives.”
Profits from the sale of Magrs' prints will be donated to the We Love MCR Charity and distributed to Manchester based LGBTQ community initiatives.
Prints of the painting are now on sale and priced at £40. To order a copy of the painting in either poster or card form, please contact Paul Magrs directly on pmagrs@gmail.com or find him on Facebook ‘Drawings by Paul Magrs’.
Follow on twitter: @mcr_charity
