ARTISTS are helping a grieving father pay his legal fees after he was taken to court over graffiti tributes to his dead son.

Paul Harris was ordered to pay £1, 200 after being caught spray painting around Brighton - but he will now get the opportunity to show his work at an art gallery.

The 50-year-old has teamed up with local street artists for an exhibition, the money raised will help Harris pay the fee.

A curator reached out to Harris after reading in The Argus about how he started to stencil a design around the city following his son Preston's suicide.

Beth Troakes said she wanted to show those who are affected by suicide that "Brighton is a supportive community".

And that when done legally art can be "a powerful outlet for expressing and dealing with grief".

Beth said: "Too many young people are losing their lives to poor mental health, and we need everyone to know.

"We want to show everyone that art does have the power to be transformative, can bring communities together and provide a powerful tool for expressing emotions, whether they are around personal grief or collective unrest.

"This has always been an important issue but has been particularly exacerbated by the pandemic but has also been neglected for the same reason.

"We want to show young people that as a city we care and we’re here to represent their voices. We also want to show grieving families that they’re not alone."

Harris caused controversy when he graffitied a number of spots where his son Preston used to spend time with his friends.

He previously told The Argus how wanted to raise awareness of mental health with his design - a figure with his head in his hands.

His artwork caused £3,000 in damages and outraged many locals.

Harris was arrested in June last year following an investigation by Sussex Police.

He was hauled up in front of court for the graffiti offences in December, with Magistrates telling him to channel his message in a better way.

And this is something he has vowed to do.

He has now teamed up with street artists SinnaOne, Mazcan and Ron VonGals to launch the El Presto Project.

The money from the workshops; prints, sticker and artwork sales will all go towards Paul's legal fees.

The project involves a large mural on Little Western Street, an exhibition at Gallery Lock In, in Little Western Street, Hove and a number of workshops.

The exhibition itself will be open from February 17 and will be open 5-8pm on Thursday and Fridays and 1-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays.