Bid to create longest area of graffiti art in Scotland

LOCHEE could soon be home to Scotland’s longest graffiti art project.

Campaigners from Save Our High Street (SOHS) have spent the last few months working with artists in a bid to breathe new life into the area.

The group hopes to create a huge stretch of graffiti art along Liff Road — and members are also hoping to work on a number of different projects to inject some colour into High Street.

Local artists have joined forces with the campaigners to form the SOHS Art Collective and hope new artwork and murals can bring visitors to Lochee and improve the shopping experience for its residents.

And now the group is hoping its vision will soon become a reality once funding is secured.

Jayne Kelly, who is spearheading the Art Collective, said: “We’re really starting to make waves.

“We’re now looking at going for funding for all sorts of projects, which is really exciting.

“As far as we know, we are looking to create what would be the longest piece of graffiti art in Scotland, which would be amazing for us.

“We’re still going to put our heads together to see just what we can come up with.

“What we want to do is get the project running the length of Liff Road, which is a huge area, but we’re hoping to do something there.

“We’ve still to have a meeting to discuss what we want to do and it’s all about waiting for the funding.”

Jayne took inspiration from artladen cities across Europe including London’s Camden borough and Barcelona.

The group also plans to spruce up a number of empty walls, doors and spaces in Lochee.

Jayne added: “You look at other art projects across the country and elsewhere that have been a fantastic success.

“For places like Camden, Barcelona and India, it brings in people and some of these artworks are in some of the most deprived areas.

“Lochee used to have its own unique identity.

“It’s still there within a lot of the people — but we are losing it in the town. We want the art to reflect the history and the characters.”