We are deeply disappointed at the defacing of a number of murals that have been painted in Brighton in support of our rescue and rehabilitation work.
In 2019 we contacted artist Amy Kelly-Miller after spotting a turtle mural she painted in Brighton’s Bond Street and asked her if she would paint an orangutan to raise awareness of the plight of the critically endangered species. Amy was delighted to oblige and painted a striking mural on the walls of a Brighton primary school.
Since then, we have commissioned Amy to paint murals of other species in different parts of Brighton. She is also due to paint another mural on the Captain Pig shop on 6th-8th June. This time round the design will feature wildlife from Costa Rica. At the same time, Amy will be holding a ‘Cakes for Apes’ bake sale at the site of the mural.
Sadly, however, it was recently drawn to the charity’s attention that some of the murals had been defaced.
Says Phily Kennington, Community Fundraising Manager: “It’s so disappointing to see the damage done to Amy’s beautiful artworks. Each one was painted to raise awareness of threatened wildlife like Bornean orangutans and Syrian brown bears and encourage the public to support IAR’s efforts to conserve them. It’s just selfish and senseless to graffiti over them.
“So much of the world’s wildlife is threatened with extinction and needs all the help it can get to survive. The murals were generating a great deal of interest in Brighton and really helping to inform people about the problems facing the natural world. We’re determined to do all we can to ‘rescue’ the murals and put them back the way they were – and we’re asking the animal-loving public to help us fund the cost of their repair.
“We’ve set up a justgiving page where people can make a donation in support of the mural restoration: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/rescueanimalmurals and we’ll be so grateful for any donations, large or small, to repair the damage done to Amy’s beautiful images!”
Amy’s murals are located at: Middle Street Primary School; St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School and two in the North Laines.