Painting the light control boxes

FINAL submissions are in for prospective artwork on traffic-light control boxes for the Dublin Canvas project.

Dublin City Council in consultation with Dublin Canvas, has selected eight boxes in the Ballyfermot/Drimnagh area to be painted in 2024.

The public art initiative emerged from the city council’s Beta Projects in 2013, an experimental traffic-light control box community art project.

Following this, Dublin Canvas was set up to expand on the concept, eventually leading to a roll-out of 890 unique pieces of artwork throughout Dublin.

According to a local area report by the council, a mixture of new locations and repaints are available.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for artists to have their artwork displayed to the public in prime locations. Completed artwork will brighten up and turn these once dull, heavily graffitied boxes into beautiful works of art, transforming each area into a walking gallery of public art,” said the report.

According to the city council, there has been a great response to the campaign on social media.

Dublin Canvas say they have had submissions from artists of all age groups and walks of life.

Deadline for submissions was May 3.

Previous works include ‘Iseult’ by artist and SEN teacher Maria Crean, which was created in Summer 2021.

‘Tristan’ by Ms Crean and assisted by local artist Lana Quintero was created in Summer 2022.

Tristan and Iseult were lovers in a medieval romance based on Celtic legend.