Marc Jessel, Country Director British Council Jordan, blogs about an unusual art project that managed to brighten up the neighbourhood and keep our offices secure at the same time.

Shortly after I arrived in Amman I was told off by the mayor for allowing Rainbow Street to be “disfigured” by an ugly blast-proof wall.

The wall had hastily been built outside our compound following the 2005 attacks on three Amman hotels, which killed 60 and injured many more. But memories fade quickly in this part of the world, and in the minds of many six years without any further incident basically means that Amman must be risk-free.

Of course it isn’t, and with an average of 700 visitors a day we need to make sure that customers and staff remain secure.

Throughout my first year I was lobbied by different people, and through different channels, to get rid of the wall. Security advisers told me not to, so I didn’t.

It was time for another approach.

The wall was there to stay, I thought, so why not turn it into a piece of art that would lure customers and add to Rainbow Street’s cobbled charm; what exactly would a double-sided 60-metre wall look like if transformed into a mural?

We put out a call for proposals, targeting the biggest names in Jordanian graffiti, and involved both the Greater Amman Municipality and the Jabal Amman Residents’ Association in the selection process.

In the end we gave the job to a cross-cultural team of two: Wissam, a Jordanian urban graffiti artist more accustomed to covert operations in the dead of night; and Ilona, a Canadian fine artist and long-term resident of Amman, who was used to a slightly more conventional existence than her Jordanian partner.

I’ll leave you to be the judge of the quality of their work, but feedback from passers-by and customers on our ‘Concrete Rainbow’ has been excellent.

A key moment was at the launch, when the deputy mayor gave his seal of approval. We had given much-needed legitimacy to this particular form of street art, while remaining secure as an office and keeping our local stakeholders happy.

Interestingly, a few days after the launch, a community of graffiti artists came to us asking for a space where they could practice their art without fear of harassment or arrest. We invited them to make use of our car park wall, which has since been renamed the Wall of Fame.

As young people have become more vocal since the onset of the Arab Spring, they have also sought out different ways of expressing themselves; we’ve certainly enjoyed supporting them.

Find our more about our work in Jordan