“I would love to face them and ask them what the problem is and why they’re doing it?”
The popular art trail has been regularly defaced (Image: Manchester Evening News)
A community has called for the constant defacing of a murals on a popular art trail to stop.
In the last year, artist, Richard Preston, says he has had to constantly repair the damage done to a series of works that he painted in Levenshulme.
The stunning large-scale pieces were hand-painted on the walls of homes and local businesses in the area as part of a project aimed at engaging the local community and educating them about the local wildlife.
However, after a while, they were often found spoiled with graffiti by an unknown vandal.
Richard says that he has been working with partners to retouch the murals, every time they were hit, but the most recent incident which occurred on Saturday (January 10) was the final straw.
Richard Preston(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Speaking to the M.E.N, he said: “It hasn’t been every single day, but I’ve been going down every other week fixing little bits.
“The first one that got damaged was outside Levenshulme train station and it just started growing from there.
“It’s the same person but they’ve written other things to try and make it look like it’s not one person. But as a professional I can tell that it’s one person.
“I would love to face them and ask them what the problem is and why they’re doing it?”
Every mural in the area has been targeted (Image: Manchester Evening News)
The murals were designed specifically for local schools and families to use as an outdoor learning resource.
Kerry Breheny, who is the director of Rosgal Limited, which partnered with Manchester Council to commission the work said that the vandalism has drawn the ire of a community who had come to greatly appreciate the murals.
Residents were encouraged to visit the murals and look after the wildlife hotspots in the area, including Highfield Park, The Secret Lake and other biodiverse places in Levenshulme.
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
A Gofundme has been set up to help Richard pay for the repairs, raising almost £500.
“Richard’s been repairing the damage quite quickly.” She said “But it’s got the stage where every mural has been defaced.
“It’s affecting the education going forward and what we have planned. It’s had a massive impact on everything.
“It’s such a shame because we get kids from different areas and they go along the art trail. It’s been so successful and it’s such a shame because it’s something the community has been positive about.
“We want to try and protect these pieces moving forward.”
L to R, Kerry Breheny, Cllr. Basat Skeikh, artist Richard Preston, and local representatives(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Speaking to the M.E.N, Levenshulme ward councillor Basat Sheikh said: “We’re not very pleased to see the artwork that we did for the community get ruined the way that it has.
“We’re going to try some anti-vandal coating, we have informed GMP because we believe the artwork was done by one individual.
“It seems to be another artist not happy at one artist getting the opportunity. But the idea is to engage with them and see if there’s a way to resolve this issue because we need to find out what’s going on.
“From the council’s perspective, we’re very much committed to getting it fixed.”
GMP has been approached for comment.