A mural painted on the wall of a family home in Lakatamia is turning grief into a public display of art and colour.

The artwork was created by Nicosia artists Tashi Stylianou and Sascha of Jewel of Space in memory of Lex, a cat poisoned near his home earlier this year.

What started as a personal tribute has become something larger, drawing neighbours, passersby and animal lovers into conversations about the pain caused by animal poisonings and how often such incidents go unnoticed.

Lex’s owner, Costa, said the idea for the mural began after he and his daughter noticed the cat’s paw prints on a garden wall shortly after his death.

“We tried to paint them into permanence so that time would not wash them away,” he said. “That became the idea of a graffiti, and then I found Tashi. It was karma, I guess.”

The mural shows Lex looking directly towards the street, surrounded by soft colours and botanical textures.

Around his neck is the GPS tracker that helped the family discover where he had died, only metres from home.

“What really stayed with us was the fact that Lex was poisoned only around 20 metres from his home,” Stylianou said.

“It gave the whole story a very unsettling feeling.”

Stylianou said both artists immediately connected with the project because of their love for animals and because poisonings remain common in Cyprus.

“Usually these incidents disappear quietly and are forgotten outside the immediate family or neighbourhood,” he said.

“We felt the mural could serve not only as a memorial for Lex, but also as a quiet public statement that these acts should not be normalised or ignored.”

Costa said the mural and the writing he shared online after Lex’s death helped his family cope with what happened.

“I tried to filter all this through my personal thoughts and literature background so that it helped me and our children metabolise the craziness and violence of what happened,” he said.

Since Lex’s death, Costa has also launched Safe Paws Cyprus, a small awareness initiative aimed at highlighting cases of animal poisoning and cruelty.

During the painting process, neighbours regularly stopped to speak with the artists and share stories of their own pets.

“A number of people have shared their frustrations around animal poisonings and cruelty in Cyprus,” Stylianou said.

“It became less about the mural itself and more about what public art can do in situations like this.”