A month long supergraphics festival will be coming to Newhaven this Summer

Some of the biggest names in graphic art, illustration and street art will be creating murals that represent the community, local landscape and history of the vibrant industrial town, converting blank walls and neglected streets into spaces of colour and creativity.

Supergraphics are large scale graphics, typography or imagery used to enhance large surfaces like walls or ceilings. The concept was originally explored by American designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon in the 1960s when she mixed large scale abstractions with hard edge Swiss graphics.

Creative Director Anthony Peters said: “The people of Newhaven can expect an ambitious, ten location festival of colourful and optimistic murals, created and painted by talented artists who are mostly from the Sussex Coast. Accompanying these artworks there will be a month of events and festivities.

“The Look Again Supergraphics festival was conceived of specifically for Newhaven, and is a collaboration between Lewes District Council and local curators / arts project managers Charlotte Parsons and Anthony Peters.

"Most of the core team live in Newhaven, and have always wanted to create something to uplift and inspire pride in the town. We also want to change the narrative for how the town is seen by those don’t live here, as it is a vibrant and creative working class town brimming over with rugged beauty.”

According to Look Again: “Public artworks bring great value to the culture of a town, inspiring joy and pride, changing perceptions, encouraging visitors, and uplifting local business. Newhaven residents have told us what areas they would like, and an open public meeting has helped us understand what kind of work they would like to see.”

Alongside brightening up the town they will be running a programme of events for residents and visitors, providing free workshops for Newhaven’s four primary schools and Seahaven Academy, and funding a youth collective for 14-25 year olds.

Look Again added: “For this event we require that the artworks are not only decorative, but also serve the purpose of improving the location in some way, the very existence of a mural can change how safe people feel, or can create natural way-finding elements, or can create inspiration in spaces where people congregate.”

So far the artists involved include Amber Elise, Anthony Burrill, Annie Frost Nicholson, Rob Lowe AKA Supermundane, Eelus, See Creatures, Ellie Fryer, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

This project is being funded by generous sponsors, charitable grants, investment from central government and is facilitated by Lewes District Council.

Councillor Zoe Nicholson, Leader of Lewes District Council and Cabinet Member for Finance, Assets and Community Wealth Building, said: “This promises to be a great, new month-long event for people to enjoy in Newhaven this summer. This is yet more good news for the town where many exciting projects that are making a positive difference for residents are either underway or in the pipeline.”