Leicester: Dozens of murals go on display around city

More than 60 murals have been created around Leicester as part of a street art festival.

Bring the Paint launched on Monday across the city for the fourth time since 2017.

It runs until Sunday, and includes artworks created by local names, as well as artists from around the world.

Artistic director of the festival, Izzy Peacock, said there was enough art to fill all of the Premier League’s football pitches.

Ms Peacock said: “We’ve invited a huge amount of artists from across the world and from Leicester to create large scale murals across the city.

“There’s some really cool artwork.

“We’ve got a combination of letter play, characters, cartoons. Just really fun artwork throughout the city.”

She added that, even after the event, the artwork encourages people to visit the city centre.

“Local businesses benefit from increased footfall in the area,” Ms Peacock said. “And it just changes the face of the city.”

Kid Acne, an artist based in Sheffield, has painted a mural with the words “If it don’t [sic] fit, don’t force it. Just relax and let it flow”.

Originally from Leicester, the artist has contributed to Bring the Paint for the first time this year, having started painting graffiti back in 1991 when he was 12, before gravitating towards street art.

He said: “This is one of the biggest and best festivals of this kind that I know of.

“It’s a huge deal being here and I think the organisers have managed to get that balance between traditional style graffiti, street art and murals.”

Verna Poppy created a piece on the High Street which depicts a girl cradling a pig.

She said the meaning of the art was about “spreading love and kindness towards animals”.