This beautiful portrait of an acrobat, by Italian legend Alice Pasquini, is of particular significance because Alice chose to paint it at the Hit the North following the loss of the Director of Belfast Circus School, Will Chamberlain, to cancer. Will was an inspirational voice for the arts community in Belfast, and his loss was particularly felt in the circus community, where he had been a figurehead for twenty years. 

Will had a great love for street art and saw it as very much connected with street theatre. In 2019 the dates of Hit the North were changed to fall on the same weekend at the festival that Will established, the Festival of Fools. The new director of the Circus School is an amazing acrobat called Jenna, and when she got off the bus from the airport to relocate to Belfast this mural was the first thing she saw - the power of street art to connect people and places should not be underestimated.

@alicepasquini