Socially Engaged Murals,Workshops and Tours
Tour of Dublin visual ephemera, in aid of People Before Profit’s ‘Stand Up for the Arts’ campaign
As a socially-engaged artist new(ish) to living in Dublin, my practice is decently informed by my history of painting murals here (and around Ireland) since the age of fifteen. Marvelling at the social makeup of this complex city, it’s as enthralling to me now as it was when I was a teenager trudging suitcases of spraypaint up cobblestones. I’ve been lucky to gain so many friends and skills through the medium of street art and spectacle, and have fond memories of travelling for commercial gigs and painting with peers at the old Bernard Shaw and the All City Tivoli Jam. Thank you to Emmalene Blake/ESTR me as well as to Waterford Walls and Seedhead Arts for having me on painting festival lineups!
Like the rest of us though, I’m frustrated by the city’s dissonance. The dishonest outward projection of ‘arts appreciation’ doesn’t alleviate the precarity of a livelihood dedicated to making art, and the constant choice to invest in development over the people who actually build culture weighs on us all. Having participated in and been privy to art actions fueled by community togetherness and a response to that precarity, I was delighted when Lamia asked me to craft a walking tour of visual ephemera in aid of PBP’s ‘Stand Up for the Arts’ campaign. I really agree with PBP’s policies and their active stance against cultural spaces being buffed out. I have the PBP Arts Policy via the link in my bio. Support PBP’s brilliant Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin in the May Dublin Central by-election!
Across 15 sites, we observed motifs of development and decay; from activist visuals, colonial architecture, and revolutionary social housing to contemporary displays of surveillance capitalism, meshing of public and private commissions, and sites honoring local legends like The Diceman. All of these spots are caught in tenuous overlap - claimed by image-makers, graffiti-writers, advertisers and/or institutional powers. I think exposing the means of production behind public art can help make sense of the policy-heavy context in which these works are created and removed. Randomly treated to the nicest weather ever, we basked in the sun making potato-stamp artworks inspired by Stephen Burke’s ‘tactile tiles’ and the construction of the nearby Dublin City Fruit & Veg Market.
Researching this route over the last while has been a big deep dive into Dublin for me, and I really enjoyed spending the day in great company with art-enthused new mates and overcoming tour-guiding nerves and culchie mortification. I’m looking forward to the next one and I’m excitedly researching further, as to better inform myself and help those advocating for what we cherish!
PBP’s Arts Policy. Eoin Ó Broin TD / Sinn Féin’s Public Art Mural Bill developed with SUBSET (I’m astounded to be mentioned in the announcement of this bill!)
My Mam Sarah Jane Cleary and I outside my mural of Spicebag's artwork on Arbour Hill
Stopping at Signs of Power's 'Me Aul Flower' piece, Benburb Street
Outside Holly Pereira's 'Save the Complex' mural, The Complex's building just off Capel Street
Walking down Burgess Lane to look at SUBSET's 'Grey Area' pieces
Alan Butler's 'Smithfield Utah' (2021)
Diceman's Corner, Meeting House Square
At ESTR and Holly Pereira's part of the Icon Walk
Collins Barracks
Outside SUBSET's 'Horseboy', just off Church Street
Oriel's mural of Ned Condren, Dublin City Fruit & Veg Market
The Palestine solidarity remixing of Maser's 'Repeal the 8th' artwork, Project Arts Centre
The amazing participants of the tour and I in the gorgeous Chancery Park
Saoirse don Phalaistín, Mount Misery rock in Waterford
Thank you to all the legends that helped to bring this together! I’m super grateful that we got to have this amazing experience and played a small part in Waterford’s solidarity. The mural lasted a few hours before it was painted over by local ‘patriots’. You get my drift.
Spicebag.exe mural collaboration, 2023
Photographs courtesy of Fionn Gijsemans.
Irish Times article on my mural on Arbour Hill of Spicebag’s iconic imagery
Totally Dublin article exploring urban artists thoughts on recent Public Art Bill
Cruinniú na nÓg-funded mural and workshop, 2022
This mural and workshop were in the spirit of celebrating Ballygunner’s hurling prowess and recent success. Each student was invited to submit a piece of art, contributing to the overall concept of this community mural. After the students submitted their artwork, smaller focus groups of children were formed from the three schools. I collaborated with these focus groups to refine the concept further, resulting in a mural that was unveiled on June 11th at the children’s festival Cruinniú na nÓg. I was asked not to make any faces in the mural specific to any one player.
I took on a fabulous apprentice for the week it took to paint this. Thank you Megan Hogan! Photograph credits:
Colin Shanahan – DigiCol Photography – http://www.digicolphotography.com
Patrick Browne – Brownes Photography – https://brownesphotography.ie/
Collaborative mural in Presentation Secondary School Waterford, 2022
I was asked by the school to design a piece promoting women/femme activism and achievements in history. I was helped by the students in painting the smaller designs at the sides of the wall; motifs inspired by different cultures present within the school.
I loved this project!
Waterford Area Vocational Training workshops, 2022
I had lots of fun with this group of lovely people. We spent five workshops sessions in their classroom, with breaks in the People’s Park nearby. We focused on creating textural, colourful pieces with their own individual interests as the subject matter. Great work was made!
Imagine Festival ‘Demystifying Spraypaint’ workshop in GOMA, 2022
This was really cool! I showed the basics of spraypaint application (can control, safety etc) with water-based Montana 94 spraypaint. I based each exercise on Graffiti history and the iconic characters known from the scene.
Collaborative mural in St. Ursula’s Primary School Waterford, 2021
It was such a joy to return to my own primary school to do this! Students from the Student Committee volunteered to be represented on the wall, and I had the honourable task of trying to depict them all in crazy colours. It was an interesting project. There were a lot of lovely kids about, who were very curious about my process.
Mini mural workshops in Mercy Secondary School Waterford, 2021
I worked with the whole fourth/transition-year year group on this project, which was to create positive and fun imagery to install in the school’s outside yard. We began with two fun workshopping sessions in their large hall, where groups planned their final paintings.
As a member of the Gen Z generation (I just missed out on being a millenial), I think I shocked the students at first by having largely the same reference points and visual culture at twenty-three-years old as them, who were sixteen. Great craic was had!
