Street art paints a picture of history (From This is Hampshire)

Street art paints a picture of history

2:23pm Tuesday 29th December 2009

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TO some people graffiti on public walls will always be an eyesore – but artists in a Hampshire city say they are getting a good reaction to their latest street art.

Young people are spray-painting murals in Cross Keys Passage, just off the High Street in Winchester.

Their work has been inspired by the history of the city and includes gargoyles, medieval tiles and architecture.

One artist, Ewan, 21, a Southampton student, who declined to give his full name, said: “There has been more positive than negative. A lot of the older people passing by have been positive.”

Ewan said he had fallen foul of the police when spraypainting at the skate ramps at River Park. “It’s brilliant to have the chance to do it in a way that you don’t get done for it.”

Sam Jolliffe, 17, from Eastleigh, said it was great to create something permanent and youth worker Kezia Hoffman, from Street Reach, said it would be good for more walls to be set aside for high-quality artwork.

The Cross Keys work is perfectly legal, organised through the Winchester Business Improvement District in consultation with the city council and the police.

● Street Reach has secured £5,000 from Youth Opportunities Funding to run a youth café from the Coffee House cafe in Jewry Street.

It will act as a base to set up exhibitions, open microphone nights, music workshops and arts events.

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