It was 2018, the second year of the Nuart Aberdeen street art festival, when I discovered the wonderful artworks lighting up some dull corners of my home city. ‘A Revolution of the Ordinary’ was the festival theme for 2018 (12-15 April). This mural by Phlegm was one of the first that I spotted in my old neighbourhood.
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In celebration of the launch of Nuart street art festival 2021, I’m taking a look back at some of my favourite artworks from previous years.
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High on the hilltop village of Macherado, Zakynthos sits the Greek Orthodox Church of Agia Mavra and Agios Timotheos. This popular church has a miraculous history. Regardless of how you feel about miracles, the story of this church is inspirational. It’s a metaphor for rising from the ashes, for starting over, for never ever giving up.
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The Witches’ Well (1894) is a drinking fountain dedicated to over 300 witches burned at the stake here at the Castlehill in Edinburgh. Hundreds of people, mainly women, were executed at this site for crimes of witchcraft. Here, they were burned at the stake after being strangled to death.
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Take a walk into West Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh and you might stumble across an outdoor theatre with subtle art deco features and a vintage feel.
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Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns spent some time in Edinburgh, where he met Agnes (Nancy) McLehose. This meeting sparked a secret love affair, Sylvander & Clarinda, a Scottish love story that inspired the writing of Ae Fond Kiss.
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Every January for over 100 years, the National Gallery of Scotland has shown 38 watercolours by Joseph Mallord William Turner, free to the public in a dimly-lit room without windows. It’s a highlight for many, locals and visitors included. For many it’s a New Year treat or, in my case, a
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For most of 2020 there’s been a danger in touching, there have been all sorts of face coverings, a feeling of ailment is in the air, a loss of energy and now a changing of seasons bringing new dangers. When I saw this painting again in 2020, it seemed to offer a different context than before. It’s an artwork that has been through its own devastating challenges too. Let’s have a long stare at Val Prinsep’s At the First Touch of Winter, Summer Fades Away (1897):
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In 2019, Scotland’s third-largest city launched its third annual Nuart Street Art Festival, taking a positive approach towards creating a public platform for local artists whilst celebrating international street artists. The festival took place over an Easter weekend of installations, murals, tours, talks and events. Although the 2020 festival has been postponed, the street art continues.
Much of the street art from previous years still exists around the city centre. The artworks can be sought out in one day with some good planning.
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Noli me Tangere by Fra Angelico is an artwork and a phrase to spark contemplation. It asks us not to cling to anything, for nothing that you can touch is permanent and no thought that you have can be held or clung to.
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