In April, Aberdeen is set to become more than just a city, it will transform into a canvas, a playground for renowned street artists from across the globe.
Artists and visitors alike flock to the granite city to experience Nuart Aberdeen, a world class arts festival which celebrates the craft of muralism and street art. The festival brings a new lease of life to buildings across the city, as they become home to striking and thought-provoking artworks that can be enjoyed by all.
The theme of this year’s festival, running from 22nd to 26th April, is ‘Poetry Is In The Streets’, a celebration of text -based works through street art.
It is thought that the 2026 Nuart festival will be the first street art festival in the world to primarily focus on text -based works, according to Nuart founder and curator Martyn Reed. It is not surprising then that thousands of visitors are expected to descend on the city to enjoy the works on offer.
With the festival just weeks away, the location and design of the first mural has been unveiled, a stunning piece by Aberdeen-born street artist, KMG. Looking out onto the Cruickshank Botanical Garden, her mural sits on the rear wall of the University of Aberdeen’s Zoology building. The mural, in KMG’s unmistakable style, depicts a large blackbird accompanied by vibrant pops of red and yellow, inspired by the plants that surround it.
In a beautifully fitting and unplanned turn of events, it turns out blackbirds feed from the trees just next to the mural, giving the sense that this design was simply fated to be here.
Accompanying the blackbird are the words ‘unseen unheard’, a tribute to the literary heroine who inspired the piece.
During her research for the artwork, KMG came across the writing of Nan Shepherd. A much- celebrated Aberdonian author and poet, and one of the first women to graduate from the University of Aberdeen, Nan Shepherd’s work and life provided a perfect backdrop on which to base the mural.
Born in 1893, Nan Shepherd had a life of incredible achievement, which she devoted to education, literature and nature. After graduating with a Masters degree in 1915, Shepherd split her time between giving literary lectures and hillwalking. She held a deep rooted love for nature, particularly the Cairngorm mountains, on which her best known book ‘The Living Mountain’ was based. Nan Shepherd’s work consists of a mix of novels and poetry, all of which use nature as a muse, and give the sense of an author who truly lived in symbiosis with the Scottish hills. Having passed away in 1981, Nana Shepherd is heralded as having left an ineffaceable mark on nature writing to this day. Her face is iconised on Scottish five pound bank notes, and now, a tribute to her literary work will sit on the campus that began her journey to become one of Aberdeen’s most celebrated women.
KMG’s mural also marks the first time the Nuart festival has branched out into Old Aberdeen, in celebration of the University of Aberdeen becoming a Nuart festival partner.
Nuart Aberdeen is a non-profit event, made possible through partners such as Aberdeen Inspired, Aberdeen City Council, and now also the University of Aberdeen.
Aberdeen City Council’s lead on Culture, Councillor Martin Greig said, ‘Over the years, Nuart has added a great deal of visual interest and diversity to our city centre. This is a festival which aims to bring colour, intrigue and artistic innovation to enliven familiar corners and spaces with new vibrant images. The council invests heavily in Nuart because we believe in the value and fun that this project brings.’
Since it began in 2017, Nuart has grown to become one of the top six art festivals in the world. It began with a relatively humble vision, beyond simply creating art, but to inspire and generate the next wave of new artists. This mission is still the backbone of the festival today, as it strives to showcase the accessibility of street art. There is no need for a fine arts degree, only an enthusiasm to have a go. Some of the artists involved in this year’s festival are living proof, having begun as Nuart volunteers themselves.
It’s no secret that graffiti gets a bad rap in some respects, perceived to be the pass time of bored teenagers armed with a spray can. However, Nuart demonstrates that street art can be so much more, it is a colourful culture that can turn the most mundane building into a visual masterpiece.
What makes Nuart so unique, is that it breaks conventions and norms. It allows art to escape the confines of galleries full of glass cabinets and picture frames. In doing so, it brings colour to the grey streets of Aberdeen, making our lives here that bit brighter.
