‘Fragile world’ mural at Hampden Park wins praise

An Eastbourne artist has a transformed an old wall in Hampden Park into a spectacular mural with an environmental focus.

Tanya-Lisa Parsons, who is also known on social media as Jewl, has painted a striking image she describes as ‘a fragile world suspended in the void of space’ on the biggest wall of the old changing rooms in the park, facing the sports fields. 

Eastbourne Borough Council gave her permission for the mural following her request. 

Speaking of her inspiration for the art project, Tanya said: “We are running out of time to save our planet. We can all make a difference by taking action – future generations depend on it.” 

Tanya used to suffer with dependency issues and volunteered with East Sussex Recovery Alliance at Café North to run an art class called Addicted2Art for people recovering from drug addiction but this has stopped due to Covid-19. 

“Having this has been a useful stop gap and still enables me to get my message out there,” she said. 

Tanya has also helped the organisation Bhassexplore, which removes rubbish along the coastline from Cuckmere Haven to Holywell, and made a life size mermaid from some of the debris collected. 

Her Hampden Park mural, which features glow-in-the-dark paint, is already turning the heads of park-users and a local school has showed pictures of her work in their online assembly and is bringing pupils to the park to view the artwork first-hand. 

Tanya added: “I used to suffer with dependency issues but being able to inspire others through my work is the biggest high of all.” 

Councillor Margaret Bannister, Cabinet member for Tourism and Enterprise, said: “Tanya has breathed fresh life into this drab space using her artistic talents and I encourage anyone visiting the park to go and see her mural. It bears a powerful message about caring for our world and is a real asset to Hampden Park.” 

Follow Tanya on her Facebook page Paint-Hearted and lady-jewl on Instagram.

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