Giant cat on side of house among 15 striking artworks to pop up in Newhaven, Sussex

  • Watch the video report by Andy Dickenson


A striking giant orange cat is among 15 murals to pop up on buildings and blank walls in a Sussex town in an effort to transform its image.

The eye-catching piece of art was created as part of the month-long Look Again Newhaven festival.

Artworks have been designed to represent the community, local landscape, nature and history of the town.

Crucially, they're designed to change people's perceptions.

A mural called 'Sun&Sea&You&Me' created by Anthony Burrill Credit: ITV News

Danny McEvoy already had dozens of cats figurines places on the wall outside his house but he's been particularly pleased with the latest masterpiece, created by Bec Dennison.

He told ITV News, "I was contacted and asked, 'would you like a giant mural on the side of your house?', and I thought yeah, sounds like a good idea. Why would I say no?

"I just think it's quite a good it's just a laugh and it's a really fun thing to do when you see cats on the wall and big giant cat mural. It's all groovy."

14 artists are involved in the festival over 16 sites with people able to follow a trail so they don't miss a single one.

Over two thirds of the creators are local to Sussex with school children and teenagers able to get involved in workshops in and out of the classrooms.

Co-organiser Anthony Peters explains what the festival aims to achieve


Anthony Peters, co-organiser of the Look Again Supergraphics mural festival explains how the idea got it's name: "I've been a resident in the town since 2010, and I've seen it slowly become more degraded with the economy and austerity.

"I've always really loved the town but I always felt as though other areas get a much bigger proportion of of the public spending on arts based projects. What we wanted to do was to give people from the town a reason to look again at the town and people from outside of the town...

"A reason to come and visit and reassess the town that they probably dismiss in some respect. We we just wanted to bring joy and pride."


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