Couple create 'art alley' on overlooked Carlisle backstreet

Self-taught artists, Rita and Ino Moreno, began to paint their back wall on Hawick Street during the pandemic to help tidy up the alley at the back of their house.

Since then, several neighbours on the street have allowed them to paint murals on their back walls to create an ‘art alley’ full of colourful designs.

Their Aztec inspired mural (Image: Isaac Cooper)The husband-and-wife duo’s murals add to an already impressive number in the city including Jacqueline De Montaigne’s new work on Junction Street and Atma’s painting on the rotunda at Tullie House.

Both Rita and Ino have learnt how to paint through watching YouTube videos and have drawn on their Spanish and Mexican origins to create their unique designs.

Rita suffers from a condition that makes concentration difficult for her and can often bring on headaches, but she uses painting as a means to overcome those difficulties.

Before the couple started their artwork, they say that the alley was dirty, overgrown with weeds and full of rubbish and that they started painting to liven up the alleyway which had been long neglected.

How the alleyway looked before the pair started painting (Image: Supplied)As well as painting murals, Rita and Ino also began to clear the alley of weeds and rubbish to help tidy it up.

The couple started out by painting a image of Carlisle Castle in 2020 before adding in an Aztec inspired mural with their most recent picture inspired by the ‘minions’ from the film ‘Despicable Me’.

“My wife and I like painting, and it just came to us that the back lane felt a bit deserted,” said Ino.

Neighbours have allowed the pair to extend their murals onto their property (Image: Isaac Cooper)“We thought we could make it much nicer and a bit more colourful by painting these murals.”

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Rita said that she hopes their murals inspire other people across the Carlisle to get creative and start painting to liven up ‘forgotten’ areas in the city.

She said that she wants everyone to enjoy them as ‘art belongs in the street as well as the museums.’