Behind the Scenes: Transforming Preston Park Station with Grace Eyre

If you’ve taken the train into Brighton recently, you might have noticed a massive splash of colour overtaking Preston Park station. For the last few months, myself and SNUB23 have been working on a dream collaboration with Grace Eyre—an incredible local charity that supports people with learning disabilities and autistic people—to design and paint a massive 90-metre mural.

Honestly, calling this a "job" doesn't do it justice. It has easily been one of the absolute highlights of my career.

The finished Grace Eyre mural at Preston Park Station

The finished Grace Eyre mural at Preston Park Station

The Creative Spark: Fearless Workshops

Before any spray paint even touched the walls at the station, we spent weeks running design and mark-making workshops as part of Grace Eyre’s Active Lives sessions.

Going into these sessions, the goal was to facilitate and help guide their ideas, but I quickly realised I was the one learning. There is a completely fearless creativity in the way the group approaches art. We explored surreal word associations, played with vibrant colour palettes, and experimented with spray pens and stencils.

The energy in those rooms was unmatched. I loved every single second of it—from giggling with Mena and Mario, chatting with Lara and Nat, and bantering with Kyle, to listening to Josh and Keir’s hilarious stories, and just sitting back to admire Teresa’s and Zena’s amazing artwork. I left every single session with a massive smile on my face and a notebook bursting with ideas.

The Concept: "Kindness Changes Everything"

The core message of the entire 90-metre piece is a simple but powerful one: Kindness Changes Everything.

To bring the group's vision to life, we chose a super bright, vibrant palette, layering lettering with illustrative elements. Because of the overlapping styles and varying letter shapes, the phrase takes a moment to fully read. We did this intentionally to represent how some things can be a bit more challenging for people with a learning disability, but also to show how looking at the world through a different perspective can create something deeply beautiful.

Bringing the Community Together

After translating all the beautiful, chaotic energy from the workshops into a cohesive design, it was time to hit the platform.

The group from Grace Eyre came down to the station to help us bring the massive wall to life, side-by-side with their amazing support workers. But we didn't stop there. We also hosted a massive community painting day and street art workshop at The Modern Funeral’s event space right next to the station. Local neighbours, families, and kids came out to try their hand at stencilling and spray painting, leaving their own unique marks on the wall.

A Lasting Legacy

Seeing the final 90-metre piece finished on the platform is incredible, but the best part is knowing how many people contributed to it. It’s a true celebration of Brighton’s diverse community, and I'm so proud that tens of thousands of passengers will get to see that bright burst of inclusion and creativity every single day from the train window.

Huge thanks to the team at Grace Eyre, Southern Railway's Your Station Your Community fund for backing the project, and Cass Art for keeping us stocked with materials.

Next time you’re passing through Preston Park, take a second to look out the window, take in the details, and remember: kindness really does change everything.