Southsea street artists Fark and Berk breathe new life into an Emsworth 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 to Unity to prepare the site, before community volunteers painted the undercoat.

Artists Chris and Mark spent 16 hours over two days bringing the walls to life with vivid designs. Art included lettering against the back-facing wall saying ‘Love Emsworth’ and Disney characters; Chip and Dale, Goofy, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse.

Chris said: “It felt great. I love this kind of thing. Especially when it’s an abandoned-looking space and coming in and filling it with colour and cartoons takes that horrible edge off.

“We wanted it to really appeal to children but also when adults walk through, they can just think that’s something from my childhood too. It works on all levels really.

“Kids who were walking through and showed an interest, we would ask them if they wanted their names on the wall so when they walked back through they could say ‘oh look, that’s me’. They really liked that.”

Lucy ran a free street art workshop at Emsworth Community Centre for school children in the area where designs were judged by the Mayor of Havant. The competition winners were able to paint a small square of the underpass with help from The Corner Collective artists.

Cllr Raines said: “There is so much talent within the borough, especially Emsworth but also the street artists are so clever to perform and do what they’re doing. It will be really nice for the children when they are coming to school to see things that they recognise and names they recognise.

“When the children are coming through there are things to look at. It makes them happy, which puts them in a good mood for coming to school.”

Cllr Bowerman added: “This is what community is all about. This is about getting local people involved and it’s about the fabric of our society. You can see the effort, you can see the colours. It’s a great community art project.”