The art project has included residents, school children, and local businesses
The community in part of inner-city Belfast have grouped together to transform a once derelict and underutilised space into a vibrant entrance to their area.
Those living in and around Maryville Street in the Donegall Pass area of South Belfast have spent the past few months creating a series of vibrant murals to brighten up the area. The walls were once filled with graffiti and tagging, and are now colourful and bright, designed by children from local schools and youth groups.
The area surrounding the murals was previously an overgrown grassy space, overrun with dog fouling. Now, however, it has become the site of spring bulbs and evergreen plants, providing a year-round source of welcomed green space.
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Speaking to Belfast Live, Elaine Mansfield from the Donegall Pass Community Forum noted the importance of the project in giving young people pride in their area.
She said: “The children were given free rein for the murals on what they see in their area, and what they could do to help brighten the area up. They came up with so many ideas, and we’re really pleased with it.
“There are different themes of the flowers and buildings in the city, you also have the musical influence on the area, too. There are flutes and drums, as there is a strong connection to the local band, and also to the School of Music which was historically here for a long time as well.
“People in the area are remarking on how lovely and how pleasant it is when they’re walking past. What was here before was what the young people call ‘tagging’, it became very untidy looking and it put people off the area, it just wasn’t very attractive at all.
“We’ve changed it completely, the young people did very well. It’s given them a lot of pride in their area, it’s made them look at what they actually have in the area, and a lot of their creativeness came out of it as well.”
The project was led by street artist Carla Hodgson (also known as CHA CHA), and developed through a series of workshops organised by Donegall Pass Community Forum as part of an ongoing community partnership supported by LQ BID. The motivation of the project was for children to explore and develop images that make them happy and glad to be in the area.
The art includes two murals and four painted bollards at the entrance to Marryville Street, located close to Bankmore Square. Carla Hodgson said she was blown away by the feedback she received from people in the area while working on the murals.
“It took me quite a bit longer than I anticipated to complete the bollards because of how many people were stopping to talk to me,” she explained.
“It wasn’t just a little comment, it was people really wanting to know what was going on with it because it does have so many levels. I haven’t had as much positive feedback as that, it was the cherry on the cake for me.”
Charlotte Irvine from Linen Quarter BID said they were proud to be involved in the project. The placemaking organisation works with around 300 businesses south of City Hall, and engages with the local community.
She said: “We extended the project and as part of one of our volunteer initiatives, we had business volunteers down here in October. They were planting, we’ve got some spring bulbs and some hardy evergreens, just to make the entrance to the community a bit more vibrant.
“The feedback has been fantastic, it’s really good for people from the local businesses to get involved and give something back. We also welcomed service users from the NOW Group, who work with children with mild learning difficulties, so they were contributing art to the mural as well.
“We’re always looking for more areas to install murals, planting, anything that improves our public spaces, helping to make them more vibrant, cleaner, and safer.
“It’s a great example of how the BID can bring together all these different stakeholders because our member organisation Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful issues small grants, so we worked with them to fund the planting as well. A lot of people have been involved in the project and the result has been fantastic.”
Video by Belfast Live videographer Justin Kernoghan.
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