As cities race towards the future, what keeps them feeling human? British born, international artist Patrick Vale believes a city’s greatest landmarks are its people.
Fresh from unveiling This Is My Philly—a monumental new mural created in collaboration with students from La Salle Academy to mark Philadelphia’s 250th anniversary. Brooklyn-based, Vale shares with Popspoken about preserving identity through public art, capturing the optimism of young people, and creating artworks that resonate in the everyday rhythm of city life.
Popspoken: Many cities struggle to balance rapid development with preserving identity. How do you think public art can help residents maintain a sense of connection to place amid constant change?
Patrick Vale: I think when a city is changing that fast, it’s easy for folks to feel a bit lost in all the new glass and steel. For me, public art is a way to say, ‘We are still here.’ It’s not just about painting a nice, decorative wallpaper of the new buildings; it’s about capturing the actual people on the street. When you put a giant portrait of a local kid right in the middle of a subway, it brings the human scale back to the space. It reminds people that the city actually belongs to them, not just the developers.
Popspoken: Philadelphia (or Philly) is celebrating its 250th anniversary. Singapore marked its 60th year of independence in 2025. How do milestones like these shape the stories artists choose to tell about a city?
Patrick Vale: It’s funny, because usually with these big anniversaries, the temptation is always to look backwards—you know, paint the founders, the old architecture, the famous historic moments. And I love history, but for this milestone in Philly, I really wanted to look the other way. I figured, what better way to celebrate a city than by looking at the kids who are actually going to inherit it? Milestones are a great excuse to make a time capsule for right now, rather than just repeating the past.
Popspoken: Young people today are growing up in a very different urban environment compared to previous generations. How did their visions of the future influence the final mural?
Patrick Vale: Working with the kids from La Salle Academy was brilliant because they just don’t have that adult cynicism yet.
We adults get so bogged down worrying about the future of cities, but these young folks just see their home with total, unfiltered optimism. It’s loud, it’s proud, and it’s right in your face. That raw energy completely changed the mural for me. I actually ended up stripping away all the detailed cityscapes I normally draw in the background, just so nothing would distract from them and their drawings.
Popspoken: Millions of people may encounter a mural while rushing to work or school. How do you approach creating work that resonates with viewers who may only see it for a few seconds?
Patrick Vale: My own drawing style is naturally quite fast and loose anyway, but in a transit hub, you’re dealing with folks who are head-down, rushing to work, probably looking at their phones. You only get a split second to grab them.
So I wanted these massive portraits to gently disrupt that commute. When you lock eyes with a giant, painted portrait of a local kid looking right back at you, it cuts through the noise. It’s a quick hit of humanity before you jump on the train.
Popspoken: In an era where so much interaction happens online, what is the significance of creating physical artworks that people encounter collectively in real-world spaces?
Patrick Vale: Well, you can’t exactly scroll past a massive wall in a subway station! Online, we just curate what we want to look at, which can get a bit isolating, but physical public art forces a shared moment. When I was painting down there, people would constantly stop and chat with me. Art in the real world does that—it gets a banker, a tourist, and a student all standing in the exact same spot, looking at the same thing. It breaks down those barriers in a way a screen just can’t.
Popspoken: After completing this project, what do you hope commuters and visitors take away when they encounter the mural?
Patrick Vale: I really just hope it brings a bit of joy and reminds adults what it’s like to be a kid. During our workshops, one of the eight-year-old boys got his teacher to find a drawing he’d done, held it up to me and just stated, ‘I drew this, and I am only 8!’ He was so incredibly proud of himself. We lose that as we get older; we get embarrassed or overthink things. I hope a commuter walks past, sees that uninhibited pride, and maybe remembers a bit of that feeling themselves.
Popspoken: What have these students taught you about the future of cities?
Patrick Vale: They taught me that the future is loud and very, very proud. I already knew Philly had a great, direct, slightly edgy sense of humour, but seeing it through their eyes was brilliant. They’re so proud of where they’re from, and it’s not something they’re taught; they just have it in their bones. Oh, and I also learnt that their love for the Eagles—Go Birds!—is a hardcore addiction that starts very early!
Popspoken: Is there a city in Asia — or specifically Singapore — that you would love to explore through your distinctive hand-drawn approach in the future?
Patrick Vale: I would absolutely love to draw Singapore. As an obsessive draughtsman, I feed on density and overlapping architecture, and Singapore has this brilliant visual clash. You’ve got those old heritage shophouses and hawker centres crammed right up against insane, hyper-modern stuff like the Supertrees. Capturing that kind of kinetic energy—where the old world and the future are sitting right next to each other—would be a dream to draw on location.
