There are people who appear in the official story of a town, and others who simply keep that town going.
Their names might never be carved into stone. They're unlikely to be invited to unveil a plaque. But they open buildings in the morning, empty bins, sweep pavements, check on neighbours and carry out the countless small acts of work and kindness upon which public life quietly depends.
In New Brighton, one of those people is Kenneth “Kenny” Dunn.
For more than ten years, Kenny has worked as a street cleaner, helping to keep the Wirral town’s streets and promenade in good order. Wearing his familiar orange Biffa uniform and usually carrying a bin bag, he has become part of the everyday life of the place.
Now he's also become part of its walls.
A new mural in New Brighton’s Victoria Quarter depicts Kenny at work, walking forward in orange hi-vis against an ornate deep-blue pattern. Created by internationally recognised artist Dotmasters - the working name of London-based artist Leon Seesix - it is the first instalment in a new series called Unsung Heroes.
The idea is both simple and radical: to use public art to honour people whose everyday work shapes a community, but who rarely receive public recognition for it.
Public commemoration has traditionally been reserved for the powerful, the wealthy, the decorated and the dead. Statues and plaques tell us who previous generations considered important. Murals, however, can offer towns and cities a more immediate and democratic way of deciding whose lives deserve to be made visible.
In New Brighton, the answer begins with a street cleaner.
Kenny was nominated as the first subject by Daniel Davies of Rockpoint Leisure, the regeneration-led company whose work in the Victoria Quarter helped to establish New Brighton’s street-art scene in 2017.
“Nominating Kenny was easy,” Davies said. “He’s been on these streets for over ten years, he does the graft, everyone in New Brighton knows him and everyone likes him.
“If any place is going to celebrate the people who make it tick, this one should.”
The condition of our streets can shape how we feel about where we live. A clean pavement, a cared-for promenade and the presence of someone familiar can create a sense that a place hasn't been abandoned. It's work which becomes most noticeable when it's not done, but the people carrying it out can remain almost invisible when it is.
Kenny’s contribution evidently extends beyond the practical work of keeping New Brighton clean. Peter Murphy, an area supervisor at Biffa, describes him as a source of companionship and local knowledge as well as a committed employee.
“I am delighted to see Kenny’s hard work and enthusiasm being recognised in such a spectacular way,” he said.
“He not only contributes to keeping New Brighton clean, he’s the go-to person for a friendly comforting chat and local knowledge.”
That combination of roles will be familiar in communities everywhere. People who work outside, in public-facing jobs, often develop a detailed knowledge of a place and its rhythms. They see who comes and goes, who might need a conversation and where something has changed. They become familiar not through publicity or position, but through the reassuring repetition of being there.
The mural was painted in the Victoria Quarter, within the footprint of the OpenAIR Gallery: an outdoor collection of street art stretching across the regenerated Victoria Road and Union Terrace area.
Dotmasters has contributed work to New Brighton’s mural scene in partnership with Davies and Rockpoint Leisure since 2018. This latest piece places a recognisable local figure within that established body of work and begins a new chapter in their collaboration.
Kenny was invited to watch his portrait being made after Davies telephoned to tell him what was planned. He stayed to see the whole process and said that he “thoroughly enjoyed” watching his working self emerge against the black wall.
There is something wonderfully disarming about the resulting image. Kenny has not been dressed up or removed from the circumstances in which local people know him. He appears in his work clothes, carrying the tools of the job.
The mural doesn't pretend that his significance lies somewhere beyond his employment. It argues that the work itself - and the way he's performed it for more than a decade - is worthy of attention.
Asked what had changed during his years working in the town, Kenny pointed to the regeneration of the Victoria Quarter.
“It’s gone a lot better, especially down Victoria Road, where Danny spent all that money and brought the place back to life,” he said.
That revival has included the development of the OpenAIR Gallery, now stewarded and hosted by New Brighton Creative Futures CIC. Its outdoor artworks have helped turn the streets themselves into a cultural space, accessible without a ticket, appointment or threshold to cross.
But the portrait of Kenny adds another layer to that work. Public art isn't only being used to alter how an area looks; it's being used to say something about how a community understands itself.
Rory Wilmer of New Brighton Creative Futures CIC said Kenny was precisely the right person with whom to begin the series.
“Kenny has quietly done one of the most important jobs in this town for years, and having him on the wall permanently is exactly why this gallery exists,” he said.
“More heroes to come.”
That promise opens up an intriguing possibility. Every town and neighbourhood has its own Kennys: caretakers, cleaners, crossing patrols, volunteers, shopkeepers, youth workers and neighbours whose contributions have accumulated over years without ceremony.
An Unsung Heroes series can therefore do more than produce a sequence of attractive murals. It can ask a community to look again at the people it encounters every day - and at the kinds of work it's learned not to see.
There is, of course, a contradiction in describing someone as “unsung” once their portrait occupies a prominent wall. But perhaps that's the point. Kenny Dunn has spent more than ten years caring for New Brighton at street level. The town has finally stopped, looked properly at him and said thank you.
Now, as Kenny continues his rounds in orange hi-vis, another version of him will remain in the Victoria Quarter: bin bag in hand, walking towards the town he has helped to look after.
And everybody knows Kenny.
All images: Daniel Davies of Rockpoint Leisure/New Brighton Creative Futures CIC
