Plympton art project transforms subways with green message

An art project is bringing colour to the subways of Plympton, in Devon.

So far, four subways in the Chaddlewood area of Plympton have been transformed by artist Mrs Murals.

The latest instalment shows a large Kingfisher emerging from water with a fish, along with some plastic netting.

The Kingfisher subway comes as a cooperative effort with Clean Our Patch, a community-interest company set on keeping communities free from litter.

In a bid to bring art to Chaddlewood's subways and promote the importance of protecting nature, Mrs Murals - whose real name is Ellie Johnson - has teamed up with a number of other projects to add messaging to her art.

One of those is Pollenize, a Plymouth-based community interest company with the artwork on one of the subways promoting the importance of protecting pollinating insects.

She's also teamed up with Art and Energy, an art collective delivering engaging and thought provoking art and environmental school sessions.

The project has been managed by Ian Poyser, who was recently elected as Plymouth's only Green Party councillor.

Mrs Murals said: "The aims of the project are to encourage walking and cycling as a method of transport, to promote the importance of protecting our environment and to help prevent unauthorised tagging in the subways.

"I designed the subways to have artwork that is joyful, colourful and fits with the architecture of the walls, as well as being educational and thought provoking.

"Themes so far include flowers, bees and butterflies. In the latest subway I painted a large Kingfisher emerging from the water, to be followed by other colourful birds and nature scenes. Woven amongst the wildlife is plastic and other pieces of debris and litter."

The artist said the aim of this piece of art was to raise awareness of the impact littering has on wildlife and our natural environment, in response to the climate emergency.

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].