A STREET artist said her heart " is absolutely broken" after her mural to highlight period poverty was painted over - despite permission being given for the piece.
Within two days a GoFundMe campaign to raise £2,000 towards a replacement has exceeded its £2,000, with a number of prominent politicians offering support to Belfast-based Wee Nuls (Nuala) who specialises in mural painting, illustration, graphic design, clothing design and event production.
On Friday, she told her social media followers that she had no idea who had obliterated her work.
"Safe to say my heart is absolutely broken to hear that this piece was blacked out today," she wrote on Facebook.
"I poured my heart and soul into this and spent three days working on this...we don't know who painted this over as I gained permission to paint on the space before I started."
Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw said she was "outraged that, despite having permission to paint this mural, someone decided to paint over it who was clearly offended by public acknowledgement of women's menstrual cycles and yet we still have 100s of murals glorifying terrorism".
Supporter Kyle Cooper has launched a fundraising drive, pointing out the artist had painted the mural "just days after International Women's Day... in support of local charity and great campaign Homeless Period Belfast, out of her own pocket and time".
Donations can be made at: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/wee-nuls-hpb-mural-solidarity?utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer-andr
Prints of the mural are also on sale at https://www.weenuls.com/ with proceeds going toward Homeless Period Belfast.
