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The city centre is about to be awash with colour as two new murals take up residence on Leeside.
It’s all part of Ardú Street Art, the open-air gallery that has transformed Cork city since 2020, is back for 2025 with an exciting new programme of large-scale murals and artistic talent.
Cork-born multidisciplinary artist Kone.one has roots in graffiti culture and has spent the past decade developing a style that blends graphic and illustrative elements with figurative realism. Having lived and travelled around the world, he now returns to his hometown to create a bold, dynamic mural for Ardú 2025. His creation will be seen at Water Street.
Jo Hicks (aka Hixxy) is a renowned Nottinghamshire born mural artist now living in Dublin. Grounded in collage and printmaking, her work has a playful, sometime surreal quality. Interested in exploring themes around connection, personal space, limbo and balance, Hixxy explores what are the knock-on effects we have to one another, and how to balance the need for community yet retain identity. Her art will be at Liberty Street.
These won’t be the first Ardú installations of 2025. The first mural called The Wonder of Travel was recently unveiled at Cork Airport. A collaboration between Cork-based artists Peter Martin and Shane O’Driscoll, the work celebrates the history of air travel through Cork Airport since 1961, while looking forward to its bright future and development.
“This mural hopes to explore the excitement and endless possibilities that air travel brings to the people of Cork and further afield,” said artist Peter Martin.
Ardú Street Art was established in Cork during lockdown of October 2020, originally bringing seven of Ireland’s most respected and renowned street artists to create large scale murals at key Cork city-centre locations. Thanks to phenomenal community engagement and support, the event returned annually with more walls unveiled.
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, and organiser of the annual Cork Graffiti Jam, Paul Gleeson. Project managed by Rose-Anne Kidney of Goldiefish Events and made possible with generous support from Creative Ireland, Cork City Council Arts Office and Pat McDonnell Paints.