‘Being part of Big Local allowed us to think bigger’

Revitalising the high street through the arts

At the turn of the 20th century, Fratton Road was the place to visit in Portsmouth. It was home to a huge Co-op department store and St Mary’s Church, which had recently been rebuilt and would become known as the finest Victorian building in Hampshire.

Meanwhile, a new Carnegie Library was under construction. Opening in 1906, the library was named after Scottish plutocrat Andrew Carnegie, who at one time was the world’s richest man. 

Carnegie’s legacy is complex, but he is remembered as the author of The Gospel of Wealth and preached about the value of cultural philanthropy. He provided funds to build 1,679 libraries on either side of the Atlantic and established The Carnegie International, America’s oldest exhibition of contemporary art. 

By the end of the 20th century, however, Fratton Road was in decline – a thoroughfare to drive through en-route to somewhere else.  

So, when Fratton Big Local was founded in 2012, the partnership overseeing its delivery developed their own brand of cultural philanthropy, to try and revitalise their high street, and the wider community. 

The following year, the first of what has become an annual Lantern Parade was held on Fratton Road and got the attention of arts groups across the city. Then, in 2020, Fratton Big Local was approached by Portsmouth Creates CIC, with an idea to use St Mary’s Church as part of a new, city-wide festival called We Shine.

We Shine light festival, 2022. Photo: Anna Potten, Fratton Together.

“The church is like this big, cultural ship in the middle of Fratton,” says artist Leon Palmer. “The biggest asset, the key that unlocks everything in this community, is this fantastic building, and they’ve got a willingness for people to go in and use that space.”

A strong connection with Fratton

Leon is one of half of Heinrich & Palmer, whose installations, films and extraordinary 3D light works have been exhibited across the length and breadth of the country. Leon first met Anna Heinrich at Cardiff University in 1991 and they are now based in Portsmouth, which is also Anna’s hometown. 

“I actually lived for a short while in Fratton when I was a toddler,” Anna says. “And I used to work at Carnegie Library when we were first starting out as artists. So we’ve got a really strong connection with the area.” 

Yet it wasn’t until November 2021 that they finally got to see one of their major projection works displayed in Portsmouth, when St Mary’s became home to Ship of the Gods, a video, sound and light installation created by Anna and Leon that was inspired by Skidbladnir, a mythical shape-shifting ship that could carry all the Norse gods.

Ship of the Gods projected in St Mary’s Church. Art installation and photo: Heinrich & Palmer

Following a one-year hiatus, the We Shine Festival returns in November and will see Anna and Leon reunite with what is now Fratton Together (a community interest company born out of Fratton Big Local) to display a brand-new work at the church, called Once A Sea. 

“We’d learnt that where St Mary’s is located was once the highest point in the city and one of the first areas to emerge from the sea,” says Anna.  

“There will hopefully be other projects built around Once A Sea that will go out into the community. We are mentoring a small group of students from the University of Portsmouth who will be creating a smaller scale piece of work that links thematically. Their work will be shown in the churchyard at St. Mary’s.”

Visualisation of what the projection ‘Once a Sea’ will look like inside St Mary’s church. Artists: Heinrich & Palmer

Fratton Together is also working with two local schools on an animation project built around Once A Sea, in collaboration with Splodge Designs, who run lantern-making workshops in the run up to the annual parade.

Support for the arts can be about how you create a sense of expression within a community.”

Leon Palmer, artist

Thinking bigger for the community

Ship of the Gods was far from the first art installation to be supported by Fratton Big Local and exhibited at the church. St Mary’s was also one of the venues for the Journeys Festival International held in Portsmouth five years ago. 

“There was a box of LED lights raining down and the colours would change or the lights would go on and off in relation to music made by a group of refugees,” Anna Potten explains. Anna was the Community Development Officer for Fratton Big Local, and now holds the same title at Fratton Together. 

“You could sit or lie under it, and people were staying there for ages. They were telling their friends, who would then bring along their kids, and then we would be asked, ‘When are you having one of them things again?’” 

Ship of the Gods was followed by two more installations from different artists, The Moon in 2022 and The Sun in 2023.

Artist Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon installation in St Mary’s Church. Photo: Bob Pitchford

Anna adds, “Being part of Big Local allowed us to think bigger, but also we wanted to prove a point. We had 20,135 visitors to see The Moon. We clicked them in and clicked them out. Most arts venues would die to have that many visitors in a week.  

“It provided a very strong argument for doing these projects. I think for Fratton as a community, one of the things that people say about the Lantern Parade and the light installations is we’re now having lots of really good stuff happening here.

“I’m not saying that Fratton doesn’t have issues. Of course it has issues, but it shifts people’s perception of the area.” 

A much-needed revamp for Fratton Road

The hope is that more visitors will be attracted to the area, as Fratton Road gets a much-needed revamp. In 2021, Portsmouth City Council secured £3.9million to invest in the area, as part of the government’s Future High Streets Fund.

There’s no end to our ambition!”

Anna Potten, Community Development Worker

Proposed changes include improving the road network, pedestrian routes and cycleways, and building student accommodation. The council has also bought the Bridge Centre, which was built on the site of the Co-op department store and is now home to an Asda, along with a smattering of smaller shops and the community pantry that was opened earlier this year by Fratton Together.

“Portsmouth is a small city. Kids can cycle around it no problem. But it’s also a place where people from Southsea wouldn’t normally head north to Fratton,” Leon says. 

“When we talk about investment and support for the arts, you need to turn it around. People like to argue around this, but you put something on and suddenly you get thousands of people turning up from different areas and we have so many artists in this country who are great at doing that. Support for the arts can be about how you create a sense of expression within a community.”

It is also about how exposure to art can inspire people. The Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation is part of the University of Portsmouth. To tie in with The Moon installation, one of their professors went into the local school to give a talk to year nine students.

“They were transfixed,” says Anna Potten. “And then they asked loads of questions. Thankfully, he did come prepared with the answer to ‘How do you pee in space?’!” 

Fratton Together is about to sign a memorandum of understanding with the university to explore more ways that they can work together in future. Plus, there are further art projects in the pipeline, with bigger collaborations that will involve bold bids for funding. 

As Anna says emphatically: “There’s no end to our ambition!”  

By Ryan Herman

Top photo: Lights hung over the entrance of St Mary’s Church, Fratton. Credit: Anna Potten

Final photo: Anna Potten, Fratton Together’s Community Development Worker. Credit: Local Trust/Holly Bobbins

Experience stunning light art installations by local and national artists at this year’s We Shine Portsmouth, from 21 to 23 November. This event is free to attend.