Coburg StreetCoburg StreetThe mural on the corner of Bridge Street and Coburg Street, a collaboration between co-organisers of Ardú Shane O’Driscoll and Peter Martin.
Shane is a visual artist from Cork and has painted in a number of Street Art festivals throughout the country, as well as having two large scale murals in Cork City. Peter Martin, also based in Cork, has worked predominantly in public art over the last few years where he creates large scale figurative artwork in mediums such as murals, tiled mosaics, and stained glass. History, culture, and identity feature strongly throughout his work, and he endeavours to create work which is a commentary and often a celebration of place.
Their mural design commemorates Tomás MacCurtain. A man that contributed so much not only to the revolution in Ireland and Cork over 100 years ago, but also for his contribution to arts and culture in the city. It is the culmination of a project with Transition Year students from St. Angela’s and Christian Brothers College. The artwork explores MacCurtain as a musician and Celtic revivalist. It depicts MacCurtain with his fiddle and surrounded by his wife, Elisabeth, and 3 of their 5 children. The image of the Lark represents his favourite traditional song – ‘The Lark in the Clear Air’. While travelling the county as a recruiter for the Irish Volunteers, MacCurtain is known to have played this tune in many houses where traditional Irish musicians lived throughout Munster. MacCurtain is also known for setting up the volunteers pipe band in Cork City and this is also referenced in the ‘Air’ of the pipes. The Lark soaring through the clear air also evokes the idea of MacCurtain’s struggle for the freedom of his country and city.
Photographer Credit: Darragh Kane
