MURALS BY SILLY ME
SILLYME AND THE STORY OF A MURAL THAT DEVELOPED OVER TWO YEARS [WATERFORD WALLS 2025-2026]
The Evolving Triptych: Sillyme on Stephen Street
Documenting street art is inherently an exercise in negotiating transience, urban clutter, and fortunate timing. Photographic records from consecutive visits to Stephen Street during the Waterford Walls festival reveal how an entire wall became an evolving, multi-year canvas under the brush of Italian muralist Sillyme (Raffaele Muraca).
In August 2025, my camera caught Sillyme high on a stepladder at work on a central panel. Flanking her were two already completed pieces: to her left, the monochrome figure holding a banner proclaiming Let Your Heart Blossom; to her right, a sweeping composition featuring a child in aviator goggles and the colourful, completed phrase Don't Forget Your Inner Child. That day, she was busy drafting the middle section in striking greyscale—a surreal, whimsical figure riding a snail-like creature with a small birdhouse perched behind. Unfortunately, street-level realities intervened: a parked delivery van obstructed the pavement shortly after, preventing a clear, unobstructed shot of that finished monochrome iteration before the festival drew to a close.
Returning to Stephen Street in August 2026, my intention was to finally record that 2025 central piece cleanly in good daylight. Instead, the yellow ladder was already back in position, and Sillyme was once again on the wall. The monochrome snail was gone, actively being overpainted with an entirely new, brightly coloured work—an anthropomorphic, pink creature sporting green sleeves, topped by her signature aviator-capped protagonist resting beneath a warm yellow solar halo. Both flanking panels from 2025 remained perfectly preserved.
Curious about her timing, I asked when she had started. Her immediate reply was: "A year ago."
While I initially wondered whether the answer was lost in translation, the wider photographic record confirmed her exact logic. She had not misunderstood at all. To Sillyme, this entire run of masonry is a living continuum rather than a set of disjointed commissions; the new piece was simply the next chapter of a conversation begun twelve months prior.
During our conversation, she was delightful to engage with. When I suggested describing her work as "Urban Expression", she beamed with genuine delight and remarked that she intended to adopt the phrase. While the finished 2025 monochrome centrepiece may have eluded my lens, the photographic sequence across both years captures something far rarer: the dynamic, living rhythm of a street artist continually reimagining her own urban canvas.
The Evolving Triptych: Sillyme on Stephen Street
Documenting street art is inherently an exercise in negotiating transience, urban clutter, and fortunate timing. Photographic records from consecutive visits to Stephen Street during the Waterford Walls festival reveal how an entire wall became an evolving, multi-year canvas under the brush of Italian muralist Sillyme (Raffaele Muraca).
In August 2025, my camera caught Sillyme high on a stepladder at work on a central panel. Flanking her were two already completed pieces: to her left, the monochrome figure holding a banner proclaiming Let Your Heart Blossom; to her right, a sweeping composition featuring a child in aviator goggles and the colourful, completed phrase Don't Forget Your Inner Child. That day, she was busy drafting the middle section in striking greyscale—a surreal, whimsical figure riding a snail-like creature with a small birdhouse perched behind. Unfortunately, street-level realities intervened: a parked delivery van obstructed the pavement shortly after, preventing a clear, unobstructed shot of that finished monochrome iteration before the festival drew to a close.
Returning to Stephen Street in August 2026, my intention was to finally record that 2025 central piece cleanly in good daylight. Instead, the yellow ladder was already back in position, and Sillyme was once again on the wall. The monochrome snail was gone, actively being overpainted with an entirely new, brightly coloured work—an anthropomorphic, pink creature sporting green sleeves, topped by her signature aviator-capped protagonist resting beneath a warm yellow solar halo. Both flanking panels from 2025 remained perfectly preserved.
Curious about her timing, I asked when she had started. Her immediate reply was: "A year ago."
While I initially wondered whether the answer was lost in translation, the wider photographic record confirmed her exact logic. She had not misunderstood at all. To Sillyme, this entire run of masonry is a living continuum rather than a set of disjointed commissions; the new piece was simply the next chapter of a conversation begun twelve months prior.
During our conversation, she was delightful to engage with. When I suggested describing her work as "Urban Expression", she beamed with genuine delight and remarked that she intended to adopt the phrase. While the finished 2025 monochrome centrepiece may have eluded my lens, the photographic sequence across both years captures something far rarer: the dynamic, living rhythm of a street artist continually reimagining her own urban canvas.
MURALS BY SILLYME