Positive Vibration 2021 - Festival Of Reggae ADD

Bob Marley Statue To Be Unveiled in Liverpool

08/25/2021 by Press Release

Positive Vibration Festival are delighted to announce that they have commissioned a 7ft tall statue of cultural icon, Bob Marley. The artwork is to be created by sculptor Andy Edwards who is well known in Liverpool for his brilliant Beatles statue on Liverpool’s Waterfront.

After a 2-year hiatus, Positive Vibration Festival will be returning to Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle this September 10 - 11 after successfully negotiating their way through the global Covid-19 pandemic and are ready to put on their biggest event to date. Headliners include, Asian Dub Foundation, Mad Professor, Benjamin Zephaniah, Hollie Cook and Liverpool’s own, Levi Tafari.

After a turbulent and difficult year for everyone, divisiveness has come to define a lot of public discourse. It was for this reason that Positive Vibration Festival came up with the idea for a Bob Marley statue. The universality of Bob Marley’s message of love, unity and hope is much needed, and the festival wanted to pay tribute to that message and hopefully inspire people.

Positive Vibration Festival of Reggae: "Bob Marley is a cultural icon who is recognised and adored all around the world. More importantly, he is a symbol of peace, love and unity – all of which are needed more than ever right now. We hope the statue of Bob, not only celebrates his ongoing legacy, but provides joy, happiness and inspiration to the people who come across and engage with it."

After seeing the impact that Andy Edwards’ Beatles and Mohammed Ali statues had made, the festival approached Andy through Castle Fine Arts Foundry and have worked collaboratively to make the idea a reality.

Andy Edwards: “Peace is not having a lie down, it's a fight. It's not something static like a word on a T-Shirt, it's an action, an ongoing struggle. Every kind of peace throughout the world is under threat right now and we need our champions. We need Bob Marley and the power he summons at the centre of the ring again. We're about to touch gloves with the toughest challenges humanity has ever faced and there's only one way to meet that, with love and in unity. This work, which has come about simply by a few friends getting together, because like so many all over the world, Bob was our hero and what he did and strove for still means so much. We hope this statue will be a reminder of the inspiration we can all be to each other.”

The Bob Marley statue will undoubtedly become one of Liverpool’s most iconic public artworks and will mirror the success of other artworks around the city such as The Beatles statue, the Superlambanana and the Liver Wings.

In addition, the build of the statue has been assisted by local community groups such as the young people of Staged Kaos who visited the Foundry to help the artists structure and finalise the sculptor.

The artwork will be placed on Jamaica Street opposite the Jürgen Klopp mural on a plinth supplied by Baltic Creative. It is yet another fantastic artwork to be featured in the Baltic Triangle and is sure to attract even more visitors to the area.

The Bob Marley statue will be unveiled on Thursday 9th September in time for the festival launch and the opening of the Art of Reggae Exhibition at 92 Degrees Coffee. The unveiling of the statue will be the centrepiece of the evening, which also include music from local DJs, as well as a speech and performance from legendary Liverpool poet, Levi Tafari.

Positive Vibration is the UK's award-winning festival of reggae, and it will be returning to the Baltic Triangle, Liverpool on 10 - 11 September 2021. Since its inception in 2016, it has established itself as one of the country's most exciting and eclectic reggae festivals, playing host to internationally renowned bands, legendary sound systems & selectors and some of the brightest new talent.