To promote the importance of children’s literacy and celebrate Marcus Rashford MBE's ongoing pioneering work in communities, Burberry has created an iconic mural, ‘Dreamscapes’ and zine with THE FACE.   

Burberry previously unveiled an iconic mural of Marcus Rashford, showing the footballer as both man and boy, in Manchester in December 2020. This new mural was created in collaboration with The FACE magazine and features a moving collage of words and images created by schoolchildren. The mural encourages young people to embrace and nurture the power of imagination and ‘Be the hero of your own story.’

Rashford has gained a reputation for his charitable work to improve the lives of children and has been working with Burberry, the National Literacy Trust and Macmillan Children’s Books to improve literacy skills in underserved communities across Manchester, Yorkshire and London. 

Through funding provided to transform school libraries, book donations and teacher training, the initiative is helping disadvantaged children develop literacy skills, broaden their imagination and unlock new opportunities. The limited-edition zine entitled ‘Dreamscapes’ was created by Burberry and THE FACE to celebrate these initiatives.

The zine showcases the work of the children from Holmleigh Primary School in North London, one of the sites supported by the initiative. With help from multidisciplinary artist Tegen Williams, Burberry and THE FACE co-hosted workshops with groups in years 3 and 6 where they encouraged the students to creatively express their dreams. Each pupil was asked to sketch and write about themselves as the heroes of their own futures.

“We are all products of our communities. At times it can be difficult for children to see beyond what is on their doorstep so it’s so important to inspire, to motivate, and to offer opportunity that breaks them out of that restricted mindset. We want to offer every child the opportunity to thrive in later life so developing creative and engaging initiatives like this, projects that the children can see the result of their hard work in every day, is so important.” explained Marcus Rashford MBE.

The artwork created in these workshops were used to fill the pages of the zine, alongside collages by Tegen Williams and imagery from the launch of the charity initiative shot by Campbell Addy. The drawings were then reimagined into a tapestry by Williams and used to form the mural created in the children's neighbourhood on Tottenham High Road, London.

The A4 zine was printed in a limited-edition run of 1000 copies and distributed to a select network of art and community spaces in local Tottenham as well as locations in London and Manchester. The children’s artwork will also be displayed in the windows of stores including Artwords on Broadway Market, MagCulture on St. John’s Street & Unit on Steven Square.

“It’s wonderful to see the impact of this work and witness students harness the power of creativity to craft their own stories, particularly in one of the new library spaces. We hope seeing their artwork displayed in the zine and the mural will continue to inspire more voices from the next generation to bring their dreams to life.”  added Pam Batty, VP of Corporate Responsibility, Burberry.

The production and implementation of the work was handled by DentsuMB UK in close collaboration with Burberry, The Face, Vizeum Global, photographer Campbell Addy and artist Tegen Williams.