A vibrant piece of street art described as ‘unique’ to Haverhill is now taking centre stage in a town square.
The mural in Strasbourg Square sits in front of the derelict eyesore that was once the Vixen pub.
It was painted by Joel Millerchip, an artist and art lecturer at University Studies at West Suffolk College.
Joel worked closely with Sara Marsh, from Haverhill Town Council, on the street art project that was made possible thanks to funding from the Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore.
The content for the mural was created through a series of conversation and idea drawing sessions with groups of 13 to 18-year-olds, talking about the idea of community, communication and negative situations.
Joel described some of the positive interactions he had with people walking by while he was painting the mural. which was completed at the end of last week.
“There was some more mature age groups talking to me and saying ‘I love the bright colours’ and one person just walked past me and said ‘good for you’ and I was like, ‘thank you’.
“We had some nice chats, with young people stopping and having conversations.”
Sara said: “The main idea was that communication and community spirit were two key factors to discourage knife and other crime and that idea manifested in Joel’s final design in the form of speech bubbles.
“The idea is that people can interact with the mural by standing in front of the speech bubbles.”
She added: “We’ve had loads of really positive feedback and Joel spoke to local residents throughout the painting process who were really interested in what he was doing and pleased to see the back of the eyesore hoarding on the derelict building.
“The mural has a serious message but is fun, bright and uplifting and is unique to Haverhill.”
The project core aim was to help young people who have been affected by knife crime, violence and anti-social behaviour, allowing them to explore their feelings and responses to the issues affecting them as individuals, as well as the wide-reaching consequences crime has on their families and the wider community.
It also aspired to help prevent further anti-social behaviour in the town and equip young people with the skills to deal positively with difficult and negative emotions that they may face.
It is close to the spot where 16-year-old Harley Barfield was fatally stabbed in January.
Joel explained more about the project, saying: “One thing I wanted was to do something that was very busy and over the top with colours with lines and patterns, really busy in that space.
“The thing I do know from working with young people, doing street art, is there is a lot of rules but when people have ownership of something they don’t rip it down, they don’t destroy it, they embrace it.
“It’s just given an area that’s got some negativity and neglect a bit of a spruce up. I’m just happy it’s gone down so well.”