First look: Nuart 2024 murals unveiled

The event has been named in the top six street-art festivals in the world.

Author: Vanessa WalkerPublished 7th Jun 2024
Last updated 7th Jun 2024

The Nuart murals for 2024 are receiving the finishing touches as the festival takes hold of the Granite City once again.

Artists from across the globe have been scaling buildings across Aberdeen transforming spaces into large-scale, colourful and powerful pieces of artwork.

This week, the festival was named one of the top six street-art festivals in the world by the Financial Times, alongside Sydney, San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro.

This year's theme is living heritage, with pieces ranging from calligraphy, bold tapestry and quirky road signs.

Mahn Kloix's black and white mural positioned on the side of the Trinity Centre is designed to look like a paste-up.

The piece shows the current generation uplifting the next, tying in with the living heritage theme.

Niels Shoe Meulman's vivid calligraphy falls down the side of the vacant building off Wapping Street.

The Amsterdam artist has previously worked with legendary New York street artist Dondi in the 1980s.

You might have already spotted some of these signs dotted around the city's streets - it's understood they have caused confusion.

Wasted Rita has used Aberdeen legend Annie Lennox's lyrics as a play on words however each sign is different.

A similar sign at the beach reads: 'Treacherous TikTok celebrity' pointing in the direction of the North Sea.

The artwork has deliberately been made to look identical to existing road signs within the city.

The mothballed Wolmanhill Hospital has been draped in tapestry, with statements taken from various poems.

This artwork was created by Addam Yekutieli who works with different multi-media artworks and has spent the last week working alongside local groups within the city to create this temporary installation.

16 elements of direct excerpts recently produced by local people have been hand painted onto the banners and hung upon the entrance of the building.

On Loch Steet, Bahia Shehab also worked alongside community groups to create this mural.

Bahdia is a professor in design at the university of Cairo and delivers lectures across the globe.

This piece is a graphic interpretation of a Palestinian poem which translates to "Bear witness I am free and alive".

Further along the road on the former John Lewis building, Cbloxx's artwork could be interpreted in many ways, with more elements noticeable the longer you observe it.

Italian artist Milo paints large-scale murals featuring friendly inhabitants exploring their urban setting.

On the side of the Aberdeen Community Health and Care village, her artwork features well-know images including the famous giant snowman created by four Aberdonian friends in the winter of 1963.

Another image depicts the burning of the trams which took place in 1958 - and of course an Aberdonian seagull.

HERA has made her return to Nuart after her memorable mural on the former Aberdeen Market building which has now been demolished.

This year, she has tackled an even bigger canvas covering the entire height of Union Point at the harbour.

Upon researching Aberdeen, she was fascinated that Scotland's national animal is a unicorn and was interested in the idea there is reality but also enough room for mystery and magic.

Events across the weekend

Other locations around the city include Aberdeen Airport, which has been designated to the city's own KMG, who is also a familiar face of the festival.

Events will be taking place across the city this weekend including the return of 'Inspired Nights' which will be hosted at it's new home on Shiprow.