The project combines public art, documentary filmmaking, and community engagement to explore real social issues through the voices of the people directly affected by them. Each chapter focuses on a different subject, with the artists embedding themselves within communities, listening to lived experiences, working alongside local organisations, and translating those stories into large-scale public artworks and films.

Rather than creating murals that simply beautify spaces, Darkness to Light aims to create work with emotional depth, honesty, and long-term meaning.

More Than a Mural

Each project begins with conversations.

Over weeks or months, AYLO and SECA spend time meeting people, hearing stories, visiting organisations, and learning about the realities surrounding the chosen theme. The process often includes interviews, workshops, community engagement sessions, and collaboration with charities, local services, and support groups.

The final mural becomes a visual response to those experiences — a permanent artwork shaped by real human stories rather than surface-level concepts.

Alongside the murals, documentary films capture the journey behind each piece, giving a voice to people whose experiences are often overlooked or misunderstood.

Episode One – Addiction & Recovery

The first chapter of Darkness to Light explores addiction, recovery, and the long-lasting impact addiction has on individuals, families, and communities.

The project draws not only from interviews and research, but also from personal experience. Hayley Garner (AYLO), a child of alcoholics who lost both parents to alcoholism, uses the project as a way to explore grief, trauma, healing, and the realities often hidden behind addiction.

Alongside AYLO, Christian Fenn (SECA) brings his own lived experiences and perspective to the project. Having experienced the effects addiction and mental health struggles can have on individuals, friendships, and communities, SECA’s involvement helps ground the work in honesty, empathy, and human connection. Together, the artists approach the subject not as outsiders looking in, but as people who understand the lasting emotional impact these experiences can have.

Working alongside support organisations and people with lived experience, the project aims to move beyond stereotypes and show the human stories that exist beneath them.

The resulting mural and documentary are designed not just to raise awareness, but to create compassion, reflection, and hope.

Episode Two – Building Stronger Communities

The second chapter focuses on violent crime, community breakdown, and the importance of rebuilding connection within towns and cities.

The artists spent time speaking with community leaders, local residents, organisations, and people directly affected by violence, exploring the deeper causes behind social fragmentation and what it means to create safer, more connected communities.

As with every Darkness to Light project, the final mural acts as both a visual landmark and a conversation piece — encouraging reflection long after the paint has dried.