A BANDON artist has his work on display for travellers the world over to see it – after a giant 180sqm mural he co-created was unveiled at Cork Airport.
The impressive work, entitled The Wonder of Travel, was designed, curated and painted by Shane O’Driscoll (Bandon) and Peter Martin of the Ardú Street Project. It takes inspiration from Cork Airport’s past, and captures the joy and wonder and awe of travel and flight.
The fruits of their labour can be viewed on the southern façade of the multi-storey car park at the airport, which welcomed record passenger numbers this year and is Ireland’s fastest growing airport.
Ardú Street Art is recognised as Cork’s contemporary street art project and is known for the many iconic murals and designs around Cork city centre.
Spanning a space bigger than a football pitch, the mural is a bright splash of colour, distinctive in the style of its curators.
It paints a narrative of the history of travel at Cork Airport, contrasting its simplistic early origins with the modern era of flight and captures the awe and inspiration that travel and aviation provides to the younger generations.
The Ardú Street Art Project is the brainchild of visual artist and designer Shane O’Driscoll, muralist, stained-glass artist, and secondary school teacher Peter Martin, along with Paul Gleeson, organiser of the annual Cork Graffiti Jam and project managed by Rose-Anne Kidney of Goldiefish Events.
Shane said: ‘The artwork is a celebration of the history of air travel through Cork Airport since 1961 and looks at its bright future and development in the years to come.
‘This mural hopes to explore the excitement and endless possibilities that air travel brings to the people of Cork and further afield. We’re delighted with the end product and know that passengers will enjoy the mural.’
The mural represents a bright, new addition to the airport campus for the next ten years, and was funded by the Cork Airport Community Fund.
Niall MacCarthy, managing director at Cork Airport, concluded: ‘This mural places art at the centre of our main passenger walkway to our short-term car park and brightens up considerably, what was previously a dull, concrete wall.’
