I USED A SONY A7RIII IN JULY 2018
July 2018 - 101 Examples of Waterford Street Art and Murals
I am writing this now as part of my active retrospective archive programme, using the comprehensive July 2018 survey as my foundational benchmark (the "Year Zero" baseline to trace changes forward and backward), while the newly recovered July 2017 RAW files serve as a bonus pre-baseline discovery that will follow in October.
When I first encountered several striking murals across Waterford in May 2016, I gave them little extra thought. They appeared sporadic and unconnected—isolated splashes of colour that I assumed were merely random, independent commissions. It was not until my return in July 2017 that the penny finally dropped: an extensive body of work had emerged following the August 2016 festival. Unfortunately, a corrupted SD card left my RAW files from that 2017 trip inaccessible for years.
When structuring my current retrospective programme to document Waterford's murals year by year, I chose the July 2018 survey as my master reference catalogue—the fixed baseline from which to track the city's walls both forward and back. While I had originally hoped to attend the August 2018 festival, circumstances forced me to visit in July. That timing meant I missed the live painting of the 2018 additions, but it provided an uninterrupted opportunity to systematically record what was already on the ground.
Consequently, the 101 examples documented that summer capture the surviving works from Waterford Walls’ first three editions (2015, 2016, and 2017), alongside a handful of independent commissions outside the festival roster.
In an unexpected breakthrough just a few days ago, after work on this legacy project was already underway, I finally succeeded in recovering those long-lost 2017 RAW files. While it will take a few weeks to fully repair and process them for publication in October 2026, this July 2018 collection remains the definitive anchor for the entire project.
During those formative years, New Street Garden and its immediate environs served as the festival’s creative ground zero, anchoring an impressive concentration of murals across neighbouring gables, lanes, and historic streetscapes:
- Sonny Sundancer: The monumental "Electric Fury" tiger mural on Newgate Street—painted in August 2017 to raise awareness for endangered wildlife, combining intricate realism with graphic, high-voltage splashes of colour.
- Dan Leo: Distinctive graphic wildlife, including his prominent Blue Tit and Bunny murals within New Street Garden and on the Stephen Street gable.
- Louis Masai: Striking depictions of endangered wildlife, featuring the Hammerhead Sharks on Barrack Street (2016) and the Baby Elephant on Barker Street (2017).
- Joe Caslin: Monumental monochrome paper paste-ups exploring emotional vulnerability and youth mental health, mounted on high-profile facades near the quayside and New Street.
- DMC (Dermot McConaghy): Expressive, large-scale portraiture positioned adjacent to the Stephen Street and Patrick Street junction.
- Caoilfhionn Hanton: Expressive portraiture celebrating youth culture on the perimeter walls of New Street Community Garden.
- Kathrina Rupit (KINMX): Dreamlike pieces pairing female portraiture with organic, floral motifs at the Stephen Street and New Street corner.
- Jerry Rugg (BirdO): Surreal, geometric animal studies situated in the vicinity of Stephen Street and New Street.
- ADOR: Satirical illustrative characters (The Cloud) on the collaborative walls of New Street Garden.
- Kevin Bohan: Whimsical illustrative figures and signature Love Hearts typography inside the New Street Community Garden boundary.
- Brendan Butler: A stylised, angular fox study within the New Street Garden space.
- Louise McKenna: Nature and botanical illustrations, including a dedicated piece supporting Waterford Hospice along the New Street hoardings.
- SHUK: Expressive urban lettering and mixed illustration spanning New Street Garden and adjoining Michael Street.
THE LEGACY CATALOG
Examples Of Waterford Walls Murals
