New art celebrates the people and landscape at Devils Dyke
- Published:
- 13 October 2025
In 2026 visitors to Devil’s Dyke will be able to enjoy a new piece of art celebrating the landscape and people of the area. It has been commissioned as part of the Changing Chalk Project and is being created by an exciting new local artist.
About the artist
Bo (they/them) is an Illustrator and multi-disciplinary visual artist based in Brighton and Shoreham. While their artworks range in style and subject, wildlife has always sparked inspiration into their works. Recently, Bo has been exploring the local Sussex wildlife and landscape both individually and collaboratively and hopes to continue sharing the importance and beauty of these plants, animals and environments.
A note from the artist
“When visiting Devil’s Dyke, its amazing just how diverse and characterful the people that show up are. Families, individuals, groups of friends and hikers, all different races, ages and genders— it’s clear that the experience of the landscape is not owned by one type of person. I wanted to capture that variety of people and how they interact with the landscape without tokenising any one identity. Everyone in the illustrations has a little story I’ve made up, based loosely on real people I’ve seen up there. As a Black-mixed queer person, I understand deeply the need for truthful and hopeful depictions of public places, reinforcing the message that anyone is allowed anywhere, especially now. I hope to bring that to my work and encourage people to welcome this diversity.
Inspiration and illustration
Bo continues, “Illustration is about showing people something they didn’t notice before, or capturing a feeling regardless of how realistic it looks— for me, these characters, colours and expressions of the land are the imagery of how it felt to be in community with such a wide range of people while still feeling connected with the shared understanding that we were all there for the same reason. Of course, the view itself is important too, but in the process of painting the landscape I had to understand the feelings it evoked, and that is equally significant.”
About the process
“A lot of my process involves moving between intricate details and loose expressions. I like to understand things completely, magnifying tiny details such as the leaves on plants and textures of butterfly wings, but also zooming right out until the landscape becomes a blur of colour to play with. I’ve enjoyed working from photos as well as physically placing myself in the landscape, visiting the Devil’s Dyke at various times of year to see what blooms and what life emerges when you pay attention to the ground. Working on these various elements and finding the many connections between the people and place as been a wonderful experience.”