TWO friends who travelled 8,892 km from Finland to Jamaica are happy that their dream of wanting to visit the island and help make a difference in people’s lives has come true.

The friends, Elina Holley and Linda Söderhlm, are among a group of about 100 international painters and artists from all over the world who are being hosted in Tivoli Gardens in Kingston. Holley, Söderhlm and the other artists were specially selected by the organisers of the Tivoli Gardens Mural Project and the Meeting of Styles international organisation who were impressed with their artwork catalogue.

The artists will stay in Tivoli Gardens for more than a week to boost and give an international flavour to the therapeutic mural project in the community whose residents have experienced a lot of trauma over many years due to violence.

Healing thoughts through art is the theme of the project, and the Finnish artists expressed that they were thrilled to have been selected.

“It’s a dream come true. I fell in love with dancehall music 15 years ago and I loved Jamaican music even before that. Nature is my biggest inspiration in art. I do artwork of tropical plants and flowers wherever I am, so it’s really nice to be doing it here with the natives,” Holley told the Jamaica Observer.

“Combining art with a mission and making a difference is like my calling. Just a month ago I was painting elderly people’s homes and dull institutions in Finland, and beautification can lift spirits and art can really make a difference. When I heard about this event, it really touched me. I am so very happy to be here doing this,” she expressed.

Her friend, Söderhlm, described her being in Jamaica to do art as super interesting.

“I always wanted to come to Jamaica since I was a kid. It’s been a dream of mine for so long. It is lush and beautiful; it’s a tropical paradise. It’s really cool to be finally here. It is an amazing opportunity to be here. We applied and then they accepted us, so we decided we would come. It’s super interesting. We both have interest in making art with some purpose. It kind of meets our values of wanting to do good for communities,” she said.

Despite some resource challenges, the main organiser of the initiative, Oneil Coke, expressed that he is pleased to see the idea of hosting the artists become a reality.

He said that the project was open to accepting further assistance from individuals and organisations willing to provide items like paint and lifts to be able to paint tall buildings, which are plenty in the community.

In June, Coke told the Observer that “a big part of what we are trying to do is unearth the aspects of the community that a lot of people don’t look at”.

“More time people look at all sort of bad things, maybe that’s why the name ‘Mother of all Garrisons’ was achieved. But we have a rich sports history and we have a rich music history. When you reason with the elders, you get to realise that it’s not just a garrison. We are just trying to change that outlook because all of that is mindset,” added Coke.

The Tivoli Mural Project began in 2022, 12 years after members of the security forces, who had sought to arrest then Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher “Dudus” Coke, met resistance from gunmen for two days.

Dudus, who had fled the community during the fighting, was wanted by the US Government for arms and drugs trafficking. He was eventually captured weeks later and extradited to the US where he is serving a prison sentence.

Phase one of the mural project saw 5,000 square feet of walls in the community, some of which still bear bullet holes from the 2010 police/military operation, turned into murals symbolising hope, resilience, and the triumph of creativity over adversity.

Coke shared that the project is now in phase two and, with the help of Meeting of Styles, they aim to transform 35,000 square feet of walls within the community into large-scale murals this month.

One of the pieces painted by foreign artists as part of the Tivoli Gardens Mural Project in the Kingston community. Joseph Wellington

A group of international artists with children from Tivoli Gardens in Kingston gather inside the community recently. (Joseph Wellington)

A screengrab of artists Elina Holley (right) and Linda Söderhlm (right) in Tivoli Gardens Kingston.

Artists Elina Holley (left) and Linda Söderhlm (right) hard at work in Tivoli Gardens, Kingston.