Winter Wastelands artist development commission

A Smile Behind the Mask is a text-based public art commission by Jon Paul Green, created as part of Winter Wastelands for Urban Wilderness CIC. Jon Paul’s practice centres on playful, site-responsive typographic interventions, using short phrases and poems to create gentle moments of connection within public space.

For this commission, Jon Paul produced five short poems and statements installed across outdoor routes from Tunstall to Middleport. Each artwork was made using hand-cut stencils and temporary materials such as aggregate or removable paint, allowing the pieces to blend into the landscape and fade naturally over time.

The typographic works responded directly to the emotional landscape of winter 2020 — a period shaped by isolation, uncertainty and the loss of familiar communal rituals. Jon Paul’s interventions invited passersby to pause, reflect and feel momentarily uplifted during routine journeys.

This body of work continued his exploration of how language, humour and poetry can animate overlooked public spaces, strengthen local identity and support wellbeing. Through A Smile Behind the Mask, Jon Paul contributed a thoughtful series of place-based artworks shaped by the collective experience of lockdown and the desire to reconnect with community.