Mural unveiled: Grantham Climate Art Prize 2026

A striking 20-metre mural, based on a design by a 12-year-old boy, depicting a sustainable city has been unveiled at Imperial College London’s White City campus.

The mural, painted by professional mural artist Jeru Nomi and assistant artist Julia Austen, is based on a design by Christopher Simmons, a schoolboy from Weybridge. It is the 14th in the Grantham Climate Art Prize series, which invites 11-25-year-olds to create public art drawing attention to the climate crisis and ways of living more sustainably.  

Christopher, who has special educational needs, received a £500 prize thanks to sponsors Taste Catering Limited and AJ Staffing Solutions and will also receive a selection of art materials from sponsor Colart. His design was one of almost 200 submitted for this year’s Art Prize. 

Christopher says: "I love drawing and painting, and my work shows the city where people, nature, and technology live together happily. The picture I created is a future that I would like to see one day, and I wanted to share something positive that could make people feel happy and inspired too.” 

“I think the mural is amazing. I can see people, nature and technology living together. I’m so happy to see my idea on such a big wall. I really enjoyed taking part in the competition. I’m happy that the Grantham Institute cares about nature and the future. I enjoyed using my art to share my ideas.”  

Artist Jeru Nomi, who ran workshops in several schools with Grantham researcher Elsy Milan, says: “It has been a great opportunity working alongside the Grantham Institute to promote their valuable work. Running creative workshops with young people really engaged them with the research. It was great to see the ideas that came out of those workshops.”  

Jeru was one of eight judging panels members. “Christopher, the winner, really understood the themes and created something bright and fun," she says. "It was a pleasure transforming his design into something that will bring inspiration and joy to passers-by.” 

Christopher’s design was selected because it incorporated all six themes the competition asked entrants to include in their depiction of a vibrant city full of nature and innovation: 

• How will we build, heat and light our homes and cities?
• Where will we shop?
• What will we do with our waste?
• How will we get around?
• Where will we source our food and drink?
• How much nature will there be and where?

Meanwhile, two exhibitions are now on view on either side of the mural. One exhibition shows Christopher’s original design and two designs by runners-up, who each received £250 in prizes again thanks to sponsors Taste Catering Limited and AJ Staffing Solutions. They are: 

• Age 15 – 18 Egshig Enkbat age 17, White City Reimagined: Sustainable Design, Shared Spaces and Urban Hope
• Age 19 – 25 Isobel Linton age 23, City of Colour, City of Care

The exhibition also shows three Highly Commended designs:  

• The Future in our Hands by Alexandra Iakovleva age 13
• The Greener Greater Future Awaits by Kaviranchana Subramanian age 14
• The City that Grew Back, by Dominika Gunia age 20 

The materials for the mural and exhibition have been funded thanks to sponsors Careys, Mace, 2468 and Nivek. Alongside the mural and exhibition there will also be a display from our 2023 Art Prize highlighting illustrations to show 9 things you can do about climate change.  

The mural is the second at Imperial following the completion of the mural at Dalby Court on South Kensington campus last May. Other Art Prize murals can be found across Great Britain from Coventry to Glasgow with three others in London (in Tower Hamlets, West Norwood and Nine Elms).  

The history of the Grantham Climate Art Prize 

The Grantham Institute launched the Grantham Climate Art Prize in 2018 to draw attention to the climate crisis through art. The prize began with an exhibition in the Blyth Gallery but took to the streets from 2021 inviting young people to design public murals that were then painted by professional artists. 

Martin Siegert, Visiting Professor at the Grantham Institute, who supported the launch of the art prize says: “Art has the potential to inspire minds and touch emotions in a way that science alone often finds challenging.” 

The art prize is a biennial competition and previous themes have included British biodiversity loss (2021) and A Greener, Cleaner, Cooler World (2023) and Design the Future: From Grey to Green (2025). 

As well as murals across Great Britain, the Grantham Climate Art Prize has also had exhibitions of winning and runner-up designs at COP26 and COP30, at Earth Fest, in two Natural History Museum Real World Science Network museums, beside Battersea Power Station, on billboards across London’s transport hubs, and at Bristol Botanic Garden. 

As to why the Grantham Institute runs the competition, a previous participant in the Grantham Climate Art Prize workshops Mahamood Mubarak, then a PhD student, says: “When you talk to young people about climate change – it is a challenge to make it hopeful and not too frightening… but there is a therapeutic element to creating art to express and share their hopes… Through this project I’ve learned the value of art and how it complements science – topics I spent months studying can be captured in a visually striking way that speaks to all.”  

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