Southside Murals

Although considered to have been designed by artist Kate George, these murals on Edinburgh's Southside are definitely a group effort. Painted by Southside locals in July 2018, funded by the City of Edinburgh Council and initiated by the Southside Association, the artworks bring colour and life to both covered and open air spaces in this neighbourhood of the Scottish capital.

Coming from the north and moving southwards, the first mural you'll come across is found on a pedestrian tunnel linking Nicolson Street with Haddon's Courta and it features natural motifs. The colourful forest scene with a deer, bat, hare and badger on one side, and waterfowl with fish on a river/pond which are my personal favourites.

The next tunnel between both streets has more human-centred artworks, including a man and woman with bursts of colour coming from their heads, and a child reading. A quote on beauty by 18th century Scottish polymath David Hume complements the imagery.

Hume's quote is not the only bit of text in these works. The same tunnel also features a bright alphabet, while the first tunnel's food for thought is the phrase “Look and see, what can you find?”, and the murals' credits are found there too.

While the muraled tunnels are very close to each other on the east side of Nicolson Street, it is necessary to cross it and keep going a bit further south for the remaining works. On the west side, there is a path for pedestrians and cyclists connecting Nicolson Street with Gifford Park, this is where the final two murals, paint in 2015 can be found out in the open.

Also bursting with colour, these show both human and animal figures, diving deeper into abstraction. Circus arts like the tightrope and unicycle make an appearance alongside dice, a mannequin and scissors for dressmaking, and a desk lamp. A woman in a Flower Power get-up holding a teapot completes what is likely a tribute to bygone industries of the Southside.

With this and the reminiscing of natural landscapes gone from this built-up neighbourhood, the overall feeling from the murals might be nostalgia. For me however, they are also quite hopeful, perhaps idealising a possible return of industry while keeping in mind the wellbeing of the non-human world in the process.