Peterborough street art appeal after murals vandalised

Artist Karima Shah said she felt "attacked" by the vandalism

An artist who has been trying to promote unity through street art in one of the most deprived parts of a city is appealing for help after the works were defaced.

Diaspora Arts Ltd has been creating murals in Peterborough to brighten underpasses over the last four years.

One mural in Millfield gained global acclaim when it was shared by rapper Ice T after the death of George Floyd.

Diaspora director Karima Shah said she felt "saddened".

The anti-racism message shared by rapper Ice T was one of the murals vandalised

The paintings were originally made to make people feel safer in deprived parts of the city and feel better about where they lived.

Seven artworks have been defaced over the past two months.

Ms Shah said: "I'm so disappointed. It's just like an act of thoughtless, mindless vandalism.

"Some have been covered by swearing and degrading words. This is not our message."

Work by an 11-year-old artist was defaced with swear words

She now wants to hear from artists who can help to restore the murals and help raise money to buy Perspex to protect images so the art itself is not damaged in the future.

She says that it is hard for some of the artworks to be restored to their original design as not all of the artists are based in England.

"What they've turned into is the opposite of the message we wanted to give. We wanted to give a positive message about humanity, and we want to do that again," Ms Shah said.

Some of the areas where the artwork was originally created had previously been used as a message board for far-right extremism and Diaspora wanted to counter that by creating something positive, Ms Shah added.

Karima Shah's artwork took two years to create

Peterborough City Council's Conservative deputy leader Steve Allen, also cabinet member for housing, culture and communities, said the graffiti was "nothing less than vandalism".

He added: "I do hope the community will respond accordingly and be vigilant to ensure there are no reoccurrences."