The Balloon Garden

The Balloon Garden

Activity: Art Installation

Access: Free | Drop-In | Join In | Family Friendly | Wheelchair Accessible

A joyful place where small messages can bring us closer together.

The Balloon Garden is a participatory installation that invites you to pause and reflect. Surrounded by floating balloons and a garden of community-made sculptures, you can respond to thoughtful prompts by writing an anonymous message and adding it to the installation.

How does The Balloon Garden grow? 

Before the festival, artist Maureen Uzoh will work with local community groups to create balloon sculptures, helping to form the garden, the heart of the installation.But the garden doesn’t stop growing when the festival begins!

Become part of the installation

During the festival, you’re invited to add your own anonymous message, helping create a collective portrait of our community, where small acts of sharing can lead to unexpected connections.

Have a think about what messages you’ll leave using these prompt examples:

• What does community mean to you?
• What are you grateful for?
• Leave a message for the next person

Access

An easy read resource explaining how to interact with the installation will be available on site.

The Balloon Garden has been commissioned by Art Reach in partnership with Leicester Cathedral for Journeys Festival International 2026. 

Meet the Artist

Maureen Uzoh is a self-taught Nigerian Pop Surrealist artist based in London, working across painting, sculpture and participatory public art.

Her practice is centred around her signature balloon-headed figures, using the balloon as a recurring metaphor to explore resilience, freedom, identity and the emotional complexities of becoming. Drawing on her academic background in Sociology and International Relations, Uzoh creates works that examine human emotion, personal experience and our shared need for connection.

Alongside her studio practice, she develops participatory public artworks that invite audiences to engage with art through reflection, contribution and shared experience. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including with African Artists Foundation (Nigeria), Calabar Gallery (New York), Broadworks × Hive (London), and as part of London Fashion Week with Nosakhari. She is endorsed by Arts Council England under the Global Talent Visa (Exceptional Promise).