Something new is happening in Torry.
Inspired by Torry’s heritage and culture, we have commissioned five new artworks to be painted on the streets of Torry. Funded, produced and mentored over the past two years through ETZ Ltd’s Community and Coast programme, this project will trace the history of Torry through to the present day with a variety of installations from Balnagask to Old Torry. Together, these sites will form a vibrant street art trail, encouraging exploration and reflecting community pride.
You can view all of the works by following the trail on our map:
Tracing Torry tells a powerful visual story, celebrating Torry as a creative, diverse, and welcoming community. The people of Torry play a central role in inspiring and shaping these murals, ensuring the artwork truly reflects the spirit of the area. We held a series of community workshops across Torry, engaging a broad demographic that represents the richness and diversity of the local population.
The Inspiration
We conducted workshops in the community and spoke with groups including Denis Law Legacy Trust Streetsports, Touch of Love, Torry Heritage Group and Brimmond Court residents. Participants shared stories and memories of growing up in Torry, spoke about jobs and past times, contributed their own drawings and art, and gave us photographs from their own collections.
This has formed the backbone of the project. The artists were able to use these sessions and resources to inspire their designs and create new work that celebrates Torry.
The Logo
The logo is developed from a hand-traced outline of Torry’s physical boundary, with the project title integrated into the form of the shape. By using the area’s outline, the logo connects to Torry, reflecting the project’s focus on celebrating the area and its community. The intentionally imperfect, hand-crafted process references the project’s graffiti influences and introducing an authentic quality that expresses the area’s distinctive character. This approach highlights the strong sense of pride that define the people of Torry.
The Artists
Charlie Kelman boasts two decades of experience as an artist; an admired graffiti writer whose careful hand is equally capable of sensitive realism. His most recognisable work is as an artist on Scotland’s largest mural, a diptych portrait of Denis Law at Printfield. For this project he used historical photographs to depict Torry’s fishing industry heritage on the gable end of 142 Sinclair Road.
V2K works in stencils and freehand to create visceral, layered work across a variety of media. He has most recently been commissioned by NuArt to install poetry on the streets, while simultaneously hosting an exhibition of new work at the Kooperator Space. V2K has been inspired by the many community groups and their impactful voices and painted a musician on the gable end at Crombie Place.
Skeps is an early career artist who attracts attention for his close portraiture and stylistic approach to colour. He recently exhibited as part of Spectra Festival, a beautiful and delicate work inspired by Michelangelo’s creation of Adam, realised in UV paint. Skeps traced the history of Torry through time using photos from Brimmond Court residents.
Airhead works within muralism and illustration. Her practice blends softer, feminine styles with socially prescient themes for community and commercial clients.Airhead is a mentor for Outlines Creative’s young mentees and a graduate of Grays school of art. Airhead has brought to life memories and stories from Brimmond courts residents’ childhoods. A dreamlike scene captures all the games they used to play, from syrup can stilts to the murals name sake: creating karts and racing them.
Ursula Kam-ling Cheng’s work is inspired by nostalgia and imagination as playful candy and neon colours fuse into her unique illustrative style. Ursula has a wealth of experience working for clients including V&A, Shetland Arts, and Edinburgh University. Ursula painted a vibrant joyful mural for The Bridge Centre which explores the history of women working and living in Torry.
Where to find the new work:
The selected locations are:
- 142 Sinclair Road
- 5 Crombie Place
- South Esplanade East
- The Bridge Centre of Finnan’s Brae
- Brimmond Court on Balnagask Circle.
- Cruyff Court Neale Cooper
