Waterford is Ireland’s oldest town, situated in the South East of the country. It is home to the largest collection of medieval defensive towers and walls in Ireland dating back to the 13th Century. It was attacked by the Normans, led by Richard Le Clare in 1170. Waterford has a Viking Triangle, which has since become a major tourist attraction (and explained the many international voices I encountered in my hotel elevator). Thomas Francis Meagher, who chose the Irish national flag, was born in the Waterford, and it is the only city in Europe whose Roman Catholic and Protestant Cathedrals were designed and built by the same person.
But enough about the history: the primary reason for my trip of course was to absorb, photograph and document the creations put together by Waterford Walls Festival team. Thanks to the organizers, sponsors and artists, Waterford exhibits a vast collection of outstanding murals. Now in its 5 year, the festival has put it firmly on the map in terms of street art, and in past years, the city has accumulated art from some of the greats, including SMUG, SONNY DANCER, MONKEYBIRD CREW, FINTAN MAGEE, CURTIS HYLTON and LOUIS MASAI, in addition to the festival providing a platform for both national and up-and-coming Irish artists.
The festival is a family friendly event, and the program provides lots of activities for children. The festival organizers are always willing to work on new projects and have worked with numerous schools, businesses, youth and community groups, embassies and local authorities and also accept private commissions.
This year was my first experience of the city and over the course of my 3 day trip, I had to keep up a fast pace to take in as many of the works as I could. During my time there, I was recommended Geoff’s Bar in The Apple Market, which I swiftly decided would be my ‘local’ for pit stops. Not a massive lover of Guinness, I opted for the South Eastern Irish craft beer, which was superb.
Although I covered many kilometers by foot, I’ll admit that due to my total lack of sense of direction and time constraint, I didn’t cover the 5 years worth of art through walking: much of the work is off the beaten track which allows street art lovers to get a real flavor of the city, if they fancy taking two separate walking tours. I succumbed to a taxi, and my driver was an entertaining British ex-con who happened to share my exact aesthetic taste, and aside heading me in the right direction during the ride, told me some pretty wild stories of his glory days (in addition to sharing his second hand smoke). He didn’t mind the questionable last minute parking I needed, and had no problem with me not wearing a seat belt, enabling me to fly in and out of his vehicle. Over 60 Euros and 2 hours later, this proved a worthwhile trip for us both. The friendly locals I encountered seem thrilled with the murals, and happily approached me in the street. One pensioner even invited me into his house in for a cup of tea.
The heavy, inky clouds during my trip added to the magic of my Waterford experience, and made for some ideal conditions to road test my new Sony A7II camera (and max out my SD cards) provided that I wasn’t caught in a downpour.
Waterford, I’ll be back!
Images by Hannah Judah.
I’ve been to Waterford last year to spot the brilliant street art works in the city and what I saw on social media of this years edition… incredible good. I like to visit the more smaller and lesser known street art festivals… Waterford became my one most favo festivals! Thanks for sharing… Maybe it’s time to fly back to Ireland…:)
Yes, you should definitely return to Waterford. So many pieces from world-class artists! Thanks for the comment.