Liverpool Cathedral has become the home of The Knife Angel for a temporary stay until 31st January 2019. Created by artist Alfie Bradley, the sculpture stands 27ft high and has been installed outside Liverpool Cathedral.
The Knife Angel is a national monument against violence and aggression, representing a memorial to those whose lives have been affected by knife crime. Alfie has designed and created the artwork single-handedly at the British Ironworks Centre, which took over a year to build. The Centre provided knife banks for the amnesties with 43 police forces across the country involved.
During nationwide amnesties in 2015/2016 100,000 knives were surrendered and collected during this period. Supporting The Knife Angel’s arrival, local leaders including Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust Aidan Kehoe, Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, Andy Cooke QPM, Denise Barrett-Baxendale, Chief Executive Officer of Everton Football Club, and Dr Sue Jones, Dean of Liverpool, are joining together to help promote the strong powerful message behind the striking piece of artwork.
Latest figures recorded more than nine hundred serious crimes involving knives took place on Merseyside in the last year. Spending it’s Christmas in Liverpool, The Knife Angel was brought to the city by Campaign group #NoMoreKnives to raise the awareness of knife crime and send the message to make people stop and think about the damage that can be caused by carrying a knife.
Rob Jackson is a Nurse Clinician at the Royal in Liverpool and has gone into schools to educate more than 900,000 young people about the danger of knives. He has worked solidly to get The Knife Angel to Merseyside and says it has a powerful message. He said:
“Were coming up to a Christmas time which is a family time, and this is still going on. This is not going away anytime soon and anything that can bring the prominence of this kind of violence to the public fore is vitally important.
“Knife crime isn’t going to go away. Liverpool is an amazing city but there is a minority that spoil it for everybody and that’s why we need to continue this work and highlight the impact knife crime is having on the city”.
