Last summer, something extraordinary happened on Southsea Common when Paste Pompey returned for another community paste-up session.
Clarence Parade’s long wall became a canvas, a meeting place, and a buzzing hive of creativity as the #PasteUpPompey project returned for the 2024 LOOKUP Portsmouth festival. It was the fourth time we’ve done this, but it felt different—bigger, bolder, and more connected than ever before.
Over 60 paste-up artworks came together from across the globe—Japan, Australia, South America, the USA, Europe, and, of course, our home city of Portsmouth. The generosity of the global paste-up community honestly took my breath away. The submissions just kept arriving, each one carrying something of the place it came from, each one adding a new voice to the wall. It was incredibly moving.
And people came. Around 30,000 visitors to the city over the weekend, up from 20,000 the year before. The Common, where our wall was located, was also alive with people photographing the art, chatting with the artists, scanning QR codes, and just being part of something made in the moment. The energy of that weekend was electric.
One of the highlights for me was the reaction to a piece I created—a giant bee poster with a QR code that led viewers to a 360-degree digital environment called ‘Bee-world’ (created by the wonderfully inventive Billy Stevenson from Film Crew 4U). This space reimagined the wall itself, but filled with bees and beehives, creating a kind of virtual parallel to the physical space. It was a playful piece with a serious purpose: to raise funds and awareness for our local Bee Keepers Association. Watching people scan the code and wander around this buzzing alternate reality on their phones was one of the most rewarding moments of the day. It felt like the project had taken flight.
Of course, none of it would have been possible without the help of an incredible community. Volunteers from Action Asylum, local college students, and street artists from Portsmouth all turned up—not just to install work, but to pitch in wherever needed. That sense of shared effort, of people mucking in with ladders and paste brushes and good humour, really made the weekend what it was. At one point, residents from the flats behind the wall came out to tell us how much they loved the colour and vibrancy we were bringing to the area. That meant a lot. They’re the ones who live with the work long after the weekend is over.
One moment in particular has stayed with me. A man volunteering with us that day—an Iranian asylum seeker—told us about his past life in Iran, where posting political posters could cost you your freedom or worse. For him, being able to paste freely in Portsmouth, surrounded by people celebrating this simple act, was emotional. He said it was liberating. That contrast—between fear and freedom, silence and expression—cut right to the heart of why this matters.
#PasteUpPompey has always been about connection, collaboration, and creating space for voices that might otherwise go unheard. The LOOKUP Festival shares that vision, with a clear commitment to including female artists and other under-represented groups. The selection process remains tight, but inclusive, with a genuine effort to support local talent and expand the pool of artists taking part.
As Festival Director Angela Parks put it, “We’re excited to build on this year’s event and see how #PasteUpPompey continues to grow. The response has been fantastic, and we’re looking forward to even bigger things next year.”
I couldn’t agree more.
With thanks to The News, Portsmouth and Hampshire Biz News for reporting on the event.
