Tallaght artist’s social distancing mural
By Hayden Moore
LOCAL artist Emma Blake has had a photograph of her mural in Kingswood, that encourages people to keep to social distancing rules, liked millions of times online.
Kingswood native Emma Blake has gained mass acclaim and attention for her murals in recent years, with her most recent one of Cardi B catching the eye of the singer.
SOCIAL DISTANCING: Emma Blake’s mural
Gaining over 2.3 million likes on Cardi B’s Instagram page online at the time of The Echo going to print on Wednesday afternoon, Emma was woken during the night by her friend to tell her that it had been shared.
“My mate rang me and woke me up til tell me at 3am,” she told The Echo.
“I had a look, then turned my phone on silent and went back to sleep ’cause I had a staff meeting this morning and have to teach my students online for the day.”
The mural of Cardi B is one of two that has been completed this week, with the other one of singer Dua Lipa painted at the back of her house.
“I wanted to paint some murals to encourage people to keep to social distancing rules, to help stop the spread of the virus,” explains Emma.
“I designed some to paint in the city centre, but then Leo announced the further restrictions, including the 2km rule, so I’ve been painting them where I live instead.”
She continued: “The next few will be more inspired by pop culture, as well as stopping the spread of the virus, but I also want to paint some to encourage everyone working on the front lines and let them know that we’re all behind them, we all believe in them, and we all appreciate them.”
