What do The Killers, the Mona Lisa and Wimbledon all have in common?

3 min read
Festivalgoer Lauren O'Neill tests out 'The Loovre' - WaterAid's signature toilet, probably the first ever art gallery in a toilet cubicle at Glastonbury Festival, June 2019.
Image: WaterAid/ Ben Roberts

WaterAid has been mixing with some of the biggest names in film, music and art over the past few weeks through its involvement in some of the world’s largest events.

Through our ongoing partnership with the Wimbledon Foundation and Glastonbury Festival, WaterAid has been finding new and creative ways to raise awareness about the importance of clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. Read on to see a glimpse of what’s been going on.

Celebrity support at Glastonbury Festival

From show headliners The Killers to film star Jeff Goldblum to musicians Ellie Goulding and KT Tunstall, we received incredible support at Glastonbury Festival. Flick through the slideshow below to see if you can identify any of the other big names who threw their support behind us.

The Loovre

Is this the most artistic toilet cubicle you’ve ever seen? At this year’s Glastonbury Festival, WaterAid invited festival goers into the ‘The Loovre’ – a toilet cubicle featuring some of the world’s most famous pieces of artwork, in order to highlight the 1 in 4 people across the world who have no toilet of their own.

Each artwork came with a twist. Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is shown to uncomfortably hold on till nightfall before she can find somewhere outside private to relieve herself while Venus de Milo has leaked blood on her white cloths. These were among 10 popular artworks and illustrations reinterpreted as toilet or period-themed works by up-and-coming artists.

Take a glance inside and check out all the artworks below:

Limited edition badges designed by world famous artists

Music artists Ringo Starr, The Cure, Sigrid and Neneh Cherry, and artist David Shrigley threw their support behind WaterAid by designing limited edition badges available to festival goers. Alongside these, the official Glastonbury Festival 2019 badge completed the set, all collectively raising awareness for the millions of people who don't have access to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

Peeing standing up

WaterAid helped transform the experience for female festival goers at Glastonbury by inviting them to use our revolutionary female urinals, otherwise known as ShePees. These were clean, safe and run by female volunteers, meaning no one had to hover precariously over a toilet seat. 

Fempowered ShePee area, revolutionary female urinals at Glastonbury Festival, June 2019. There are also private cubicles specially designed to meet women's needs, also providing Fempowered products - plastic-free, organic sanitary products.
Fempowered ShePee area, revolutionary female urinals at Glastonbury Festival, June 2019. There are also private cubicles specially designed to meet women's needs, also providing Fempowered products -
Image: WaterAid/ Ben Roberts

WaterAid at Wimbledon

What does making a Wimbledon champion and improving the lives of the poorest communities across the world have in common? A team!

We teamed up with Wimbledon Foundation to create the #TeamWater campaign, an initiative to help make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for communities in Ethiopia, Malawi and Nepal.Together with the Wimbledon Foundation, WaterAid created a fountain sculpture of 2,631 tennis balls in Greenwich Park, representing the average number of lives that could be saved each day if everyone, everywhere had clean water and decent toilets.

Check out our video below to see how local schoolchildren and visitors got around this campaign: