NARRATIVE 4’s activities took on a visual twist when the group, commonly working in the art of storytelling, teamed up with Limerick artist Maurice Quillinan to create a mural in their urban garden.
The urban community garden is a new addition to the European headquarters of the not-for-profit organisation – having built flowerbeds and planted fauna to compliment the space, Maurice worked with the Narrative 4 students to create a mural that reflects both them and space.
“It was absolutely fantastic working with the kids,” he told the Limerick Post.
“It is a visual story, we are taking it from the literary narrative to the visual narrative. The idea of this is to echo what’s happening in the garden, and vice versa.”
Narrative 4 hosted an event the evening the mural was being painted, encouraging people to come to the courtyard, pick up a paint brush and add their contribution to the creative process.
“As a full-time artist, usually I work by myself, but it’s lovely to give something back to the community. You find yourself working in a small bubble, the cultural side of art in Ireland, it was lovely to be able to extend that,” Maurice explained.
The mural features an image of a sunflower, along with birds, cats, butterflies and other wildlife. It took on the idea of what the children thought a garden should look like, bringing them together from different areas of Limerick and different ages.
James Lawlor, who heads up operations for Narrative 4 in Limerick, said the mural ties in with their mission by “inspiring young people to use creativity to change their story or change their environment”.
“We believe anything like this that gets people working together, by collaborating, builds those empathetic skills in young people is better for society as a whole,” he said.
Narrative 4 recently hosted its global summit in Limerick which saw more than 80 people come from different parts of the world to reflect on the progress the organisation has made as well as share their narrative in workshops, creating a global community.
Read similar stories at the Limerick Post Arts section.
