Harold Offeh: Trustful Strangers Induce Fearless Walks, billboard installation, Paddington Square 2026. Photo: Cesare De Giglio
Commissioned Artist: Harold Offeh
Curated by The Showroom in partnership with LACUNA
Trustful Strangers Induce Fearless Walks is the third iteration of The Paddington Square x The Showroom billboard commission. Harold Offeh’s billboard is developed from a series of workshops and conversations between Offeh and a group of 25 young people aged 16 – 24 years old from Westminster and other London boroughs who have an ongoing relationship with The Showroom.
The Showroom invited Offeh to work with the group from the gallery’s Imagining Futures programme, which creates unique opportunities for young people from across London to connect with artists, develop creative skills and explore ideas through collaborative workshops, events and projects rooted in The Showroom’s local area of Westminster.
Through a process of gathering materials, collage, role-play and writing, the group explored the idea of public space and the importance of building communities that care and look out for each other, which fosters trust in strangers.
In generating the phrase ‘Trustful Strangers Induce Fearless Walks’ the group have created a powerful statement that speaks to their hopeful desire to increase empathy and mutual trust between anonymous passers-by as they encounter each other in London’s streets and public spaces.
The group’s interest in performance practices, alongside Offeh’s own practice as a performance artist, sees the work extend beyond the billboard’s physical borders via audio clips featuring spoken-word, poetry, streams of consciousness, reflections and song; accessible via a QR code onsite. Listen to the audio clips below:
With thanks to the young collaborators: Tia Abbas, Ryan Andrade Teixeira, Chinenye Anyaegbu, Aayushi Chauhan, Daina Earlington, Olajumoke Feyisetan, Nicole Gbadebo, Kiana Kaymarie-Viola, Maria Malugin, Anuhya Saxena, Zara William-Gauntlett, Taj Wilmot and Ruby.
"This has been a transformative project for me. It's been a profound experience listening and working with this extraordinary group of young people. I've learned so much from their belief in the power of kinship and community, their cultural insights and their desire for hopeful futures”
Harold Offeh
This is the final artwork in the ambitious public art programme curated by LACUNA at Paddington Square, which also includes three permanent commissions by Ugo Rondinone, Pae White and Catherine Yass alongside two previous artworks in the rotational billboard programme by Long Distance Press and Kathrin Böhm.
Commissioned by Great Western Developments, alongside Sellar as Development Manager, this ambitious art initiative represents a major investment into the public realm, as part of the wider Paddington Square Public Art Programme, curated by LACUNA.
“Our ambition for the Paddington Square x The Showroom programme was to ensure that the local community was engaged, and this year’s result is both powerful and relevant. Harold’s work with the group of young people highlights a pertinent social issue which is often overlooked. I very much look forward to the conversations this piece generates.”
Stella Ioannou, Founding Director, LACUNA
