Hull artist who helped tackled vandalism in city up for world award

An artist from Hull who helped to tackle vandalism in the city by transforming the streets with colourful and creative designs has been longlisted for a World Illustration Award.

Lydia Caprani was commissioned by the council to decorate signal cabs on Beverley road as part of a trial that saw local artists redesign some of the city's most targeted signal control boxes.

Lydia’s patterned designs were sourced directly from the historic Beverley Road area.

The awards celebrate work made by illustrators across the world and will celebrate the resilience of artists in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lydia said: "I am honoured to have been longlisted for the World Illustration Awards, amongst some of the most exciting illustration talent around the world.

"The project was a fantastic opportunity to stay creative during lockdown and allowed me to expand my patterned based work into a new context. I couldn't be happier that the decorative cabs have been recognised on the world stage."

Councillor Rosemary Pantelakis, portfolio holder for arts and culture at Hull City Council, said: "We are thrilled that the work of one of our talented Hull designers is being recognised in this way.

"Lydia Caprani’s beautiful and sympathetic designs have enhanced our urban environment and made points of interest from something as mundane as a traffic signal control box.

"Her work has also reduced vandalism and the need for maintenance, further enhancing and enriching the area. We look forward to rolling out the project to other sites as soon as possible, and look forward to more design-led collaborations with artists in the future."

The winners of the awards will be announced in October and more can be found out about them here.