Ben Slow has said he created a mural honouring his late friend and fellow artist Joseph Loughborough to “try to make sense” of his sudden death last year.
Slow, 42, spent nine days painting the large mural of Loughborough in his home city of Portsmouth as a tribute to the artist, following his death in June 2025 aged 44, just weeks after being diagnosed with cancer.
Speaking to the Press Association, Slow admitted that art was a large part of his grieving process and said he hopes the mural captures the “kindness, openness and love” of his friend.
He said: “For me, art is my way of expressing myself. I’m not good with words. And a lot of time when you’re painting, for me, I don’t even realise why I’m doing it.
“I started going to my therapist recently like, ‘Why do I do this?’ And you realise how much more of what you’re creating is actually you processing your day-to-day life.
“I wish I was better with words, because I love reading them, but (art) is a different thing.
“It’s my way of trying to make sense of not just (his death), but kind of everything we go through.”
The artist, who is from Kent, also reflected on how painting the mural got “a bit much” at times as he navigated his grieving process.
He said: “Everyone grieves differently, obviously. Mine is like big explosions.
“I was staring at Joey’s face for weeks trying to get this design, and you just get this build-up of… I don’t even know what you’d call it, you can just feel your body reacting.
“But then it was also a case of ‘I have a job to do, and I have to kind of park this a little bit while I’m at it’, which is a bit weird, I guess.
“After eight or nine days, you’re in kind of a zone where you’re just like, ‘This is just something I have to do and focus on’, rather than try and get too emotional in the moment.
“But it was lovely at the end.”
Slow, who is now based in Copenhagen, continued: “Hopefully what you see is his kindness.
“With his eyes and his face, I think (the mural) really captures Joe and his openness and love.
“Street art is very impactful. A mural like that, straight away you see it. And I think there’s something in its scale that perhaps strikes or hits you a bit harder.
“It captured him very honestly, and that’s something I’m very happy about.”
He also hailed Loughborough as a “special lad” and a “one-off”, adding: “Joey was one of my best friends and one of my biggest inspirations. He left a really big impression.
“I guess in my own little way, I’m trying to show my love and appreciation for him.
“It wasn’t easy, but luckily we had a lot of other people who knew Joey and who wanted to make this happen.”
Slow said: “I think we have a tendency, when people die, to think of all the positives and focus on them.
“There’s an element of truth here, but I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say that Joey wasn’t just ‘anyone else’.”
Loughborough was born in Gosport, and is a celebrated painter and visual artist known for his expressive charcoal drawings.
The mural in his honour is located at Pitt St Skatepark, and Slow said he hopes it can be a place for people to “go, take time and remember Joe”.
