Southsea street artists breathe new life into an underpass in a community project

Disney characters, The Pink Panther and bird murals are among the ‘amazing’ street art designs painted by Chris Reeves (who paints as Berk) and Mark Jones (better known as Fark) from The Corner Collective in Southsea, at Washington Road’s underpass. The project, funded by Havant Borough Council, was unveiled with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the Mayor of Havant, Councillor Rosy Raines and the Mayor’s Consort, Graham Raines. Art teacher Lucy Lawrence joined forces with Emsworth councillor Lulu Bowerman to get the project underway after she saw an opportunity to transform a ‘miserable’ passageway into a colourful space for school children and adults to enjoy. Lucy, from Emsworth, said: “The underpass has been miserable for a long time. I’m aware that a lot of school children pass through here. There are issues with flooding and lighting and it’s time to make it a better space for them. “I spoke to Lulu and I said can we have permission to paint here? Fortunately we could get some funding and the Emsworth Residents Forum held the money so that we could have the funding.” A team of firefighters from Emsworth Fire Station scrubbed down the underpass with help from Matt at charity Bridge...