The artists behind Portsmouth's Lion trail

9 hours ago

Anjana Gadgiland

Hannah Walsh,South of England

News image — There are 45 lions placed around Portsmouth, starting in Cosham and finishing in Fratton.

BBC The image shows three lion sculptures. Two in the background are slightly blurred and the one if the foreground is in focus. The one in the front is white and painted with pink heart eyes. It has a number of different coloured squares which each say different messages about Portsmouth. The one in the background is painted in to look like it is wearing a suit. It has a brown jacket on and a black tie. It has a ginger mane and a brown hat on. The third lion is inspired by history of libraries. It is a brown lion, which has green and grey on it. — There are 45 lions placed around Portsmouth, starting in Cosham and finishing in Fratton.

An artist behind one of the lions sculptures, which is a part of an art trail to celebrate the Portsmouth100 centenary, has said their lion is a "love letter to Portsmouth".

Portsmouth streets are coming alive with the pride of lion sculptures, which have all been uniquely designed by artists.

All 45 sculptures, which are inspired by the cities character, heritage and communities, have been placed around Portsmouth.

The trail is helping to mark 100 years since Portsmouth was officially granted city status on April 21, 1926.

Or is smiling at the camera. She has brown hair that is pulled back into a ponytail. She is wearing a blue zip-up hoodie. She has glasses on which have a gold frame. Behind her are a number of painted lions. She is stood next to hers which she designed. It is a white in colour with a number of data graphs painted on it. — Or Misgav was one of the artists who has designed a lion

The trail begins in Paulsgrove and finishes in Southsea, with 45 lions and one unicorn statue to find.

Artists, included well-known local names and new talent, were asked to design a lion inspired by the people, coastline and heritage of Portsmouth.

One of the artists involved includes Or Misgav, who recently moved to Portsmouth.

Or said painting a lion for the trail was a good way to give back to the city.

She said: "The city was so welcoming and it just invited me in, and I wanted to create something and give back to the community.

"So my lion is kind of a love letter for Portsmouth."

The lion she's decorated represents data from the people of Portsmouth.

She added: "I really hope people will come and engage with it because my piece is not just about just seeing it.

"It's about coming closer, looking at the data, and looking at it from different perspective."

The image shows November Tan sat painting her lion. She has a grey, high neck, knitted jumper on. She has black, long hair which is in a ponytail. She has a black apron on and brown glasses. She is holding a yellow paintbrush. She is painting a brown lion, which has green and grey on it. — November Tan moved to the city to complete her PhD and said it was 'welcoming'.

A second artist, involved in the project, moved to the city to complete her PhD and began researching about the cities history.

November Tan said: "I discovered that there's so much to celebrate about the city, and I thought it was kind of really nice for 100 years to do a piece of artwork about the libraries and the literary places in Portsmouth."

"I really wanted people to give me the stories about these places instead of my own research.

"So we did a traveling booth around like four different libraries, and we had hundred of stories from people telling us about their favourite places to read."