Nuart Aberdeen

TRANSCENDENTAL CAT FLAP_ . I exited the transcendental cat flap Johnny Rotten had died in my arms it was a dream what did it mean_ . 📷 @conorgaultphoto . . . #poetryisinthestreets #streetart #streetpoetry #aberdeen

'Light Within the Darkness' poem writen and painted for @nuartaberdeen Every time I approach writing a poem for the streets, I seek rhymes that would not only reflect my own experience of existence but also correspond to the whole humanity. Like a colony of ants connected through electromagnetic communication chanels to keep the anthill functional. Only in my anthill are there no kings or queens to rule it. Every ant is unique in its skills and abilities to function freely for the benefit of the anthill, which produces poems when I write. Some ants are responsible for finding letters, some for putting words into sentences & phrases. There are ants that are responsible for rhythms that provide sentences with rhyming abilities, and there are phylosophical crazy ants that constantly argue with each other regarding harmonicity. Once arguments are completed, the working/strongest ants take an action for the poem to be released into manifestation outside the anthill while constantly observing processes of its creation. As soon as the poem hits the streets, all the ants that made this enormous work on the proccesses of creation returns in the depths of the anthill. Some rest and enjoy social unification until it's time for the new poem to be created. Whilst other ants get back straight to work, collecting the speckles of love that flickered of the previous poems. They take it back to anhill, nurture, and allow it to metamorphose in to new born senses for the creation of a new poem. No kings, No queens... just love, respect, gratitude & empathy to keep my anthill functional. This is how I see and feel my street poetry process. Greatful for great shots of action and finished piece to Benjamin Parry and @bktallman . Great memory of life, thank you, guys! Lastly, nuf love to @nuartfestival & The Crew for almost decade-long trust.

‘Unseen, unheard, yet all beside us’ for @nuartaberdeen Words from ‘Blackbird in Snow’ a beautiful piece of text by Aberdonian author Nan Shepherd. One of the first women to graduate from Aberdeen University, Shepherd’s writing often explored themes of nature and our connection to our landscape so it felt fitting to create a mural inspired by her words that would sit within the landscape of the beautiful Cruickshank Botanic Gardens nestled within the university campus. Working with the curator of the gardens, Mark Paterson, to create a composition with the intent that it existed and breathed alongside, rather than dominated the beauty around it. The flowers within the mural mirroring those growing nearby and the blackbird serendipitously watching over the ivy trees to the left of the wall that I later discovered black birds like to feast on. HUGE thank you to Mark & Jack for their hospitality, patience and kindness while I interrupted their peaceful gardens for the week. And to all the @nuartaberdeen crew and @rossgrant88 for all their hard work and support throughout what was an unpredictable install 😅 Beautifully photographed by @bktallman & @conorgaultphoto 🖤

‘gur tric mo shùil a null air’ - Carved Wood with lyrics from traditional herring gutting songs, as part of @nuartaberdeen I don’t usually explore text. But responding to Nuart’s theme “poetry in the streets” I wanted to find a way to connect the heritage of our words with our landscapes present. When researching the history of women working within the fishing industry of Aberdeen, I learned about how herring gutters from all over Scotland would travel around the coastline, chasing the herring catch. Bringing with them the songs of their homes and teaching them to those who worked alongside them. Sharing their own heritage, languages and cultures through music and passing on words between those who they may have never previously met. Although often simple in theme, there’s a beauty in these words being passed on through migration and in time adopting localisms that merge different cultures, languages and dialect. A reminder that migration shares beauty and that languages can survive, adapt and thrive when shared with others. A massive thank you to historical researcher Meg Hyland who helped me with my research in to the songs that would have been sung around the Aberdeen coastline and also Dr Fiona Jane Brown for her help and support 🖤 Thank you @conorgaultphoto for the 📸

Some gorgeous portraits captured by the goats @conorgaultphoto and @bktallman at @nuartaberdeen ✨ Can’t wait to share full shots of my piece soon. For now let’s revel in apprecition for the guys! 📸🙌❤️‍🔥 #Mural #ArtistPortrait #NuartAberdeen #Aberdeen

The official @nuartaberdeen street art tours are back 🎨 Join an experienced member of the festival team to explore the latest works from Nuart 2026 alongside iconic murals from previous years. Tours run every Sunday from 17 May until the end of June. Tickets: Adult (16+) – £8.30 (incl. £1.30 fee) Under 15s – Free Art For All – Free Times are tough, but art should be for everyone. If you can’t afford a ticket right now, just choose an Art For All ticket and enjoy the tour with us. Book now on eventbrite via our linkbio. @visitabdn @tazzyczech #NuartAberdeen #AberdeenInspired #AberdeenCity #NuartFestival

@robertmontgomeryghost is a poet, installation artist, conceptual artist, public artist, thinking about language as a way to intervene into our lives and bring a spiritual and personal experience to our public arenas. He is a like a street poet in the 21 century sense.��Listen to @epricco ’s full conversation with Montgomery on a stage during this year’s ⁠@nuartaberdeen festival on The Unibrow Radio (link in bio)��#robertmontgomery #theunibrow #nuartfestival #nuartaberdeen #poetry�@robertmontgomerystudio �@nuartfestival

Loved @nuartaberdeen 2026? Tell us what worked and what could be even better. Your feedback helps shape future events across the city. Our quick survey takes less than 5 minutes and you could win a £50 Aberdeen Gift Card as a thank you. Share your thoughts via our linkbio. 📷️ : @conorgaultphoto // 🎨: @remirough 📍@bonaccordaberdeen #NuartAberdeen #AberdeenInspired #AberdeenCity #NuartFestival

Dispatches from Nuart Aberdeen, Part 1: Disrupting the Logic of Public Language. Most language in public space is functional, telling us where to go and what to buy. Rarely do words in the street ask us to slow down or think. Throughout Nuart Aberdeen 2026, many of the works operated precisely by interrupting that automated relationship with urban language. One of the clearest examples was Dr. D’s mural reading “VERIFY YOU ARE HUMAN,” installed above the entrance of a building where the artist added a painted third door, turning the piece into a kind of urban CAPTCHA. The phrase immediately recalled the endless repetitive tests of digital space, which by now occupies our lives just as much as physical public space itself. Yet once relocated onto the street, the sentence stopped functioning as instruction and became something stranger, more existential. The same logic appeared in Dr. D’s hijacked road signs scattered across Aberdeen during the festival. Small alterations inside familiar visual systems disrupted the unconscious habits through which cities are normally navigated, briefly forcing passers-by out of automatic perception and into awareness. That strategy ran throughout much of Nuart Aberdeen 2026, where poetry often appeared less as literary form than as interference inserted into the smooth flow of urban communication. More dispatches from Nuart Aberdeen coming soon!

Not Venice, but Aberdeen where we installed the largest lightwork we’ve ever made for @nuartaberdeen . An 11 metre wide piece for Bon Accord baths. I wanted to celebrate Persian and Iranian poetry so the piece begins with a first line from the great 14th century poet Hafez Shirazi. The rest of the text is a prayer for us to show an attitude of welcome and inclusion towards migrants and those seeking peace and shelter in these troubled times. The final refrain, ‘DO NOT LET THEM FORGET THE LOVE” also appears around the streets of Adberdeen on walls and as stickers. Thank you to Martyn Reed, Stella Kalidies, Olivia Skalkos and the whole Nu Art team for your amazing curation and support in making this project happen 🌞 EVEN AFTER ALL THIS TIME THE SUN NEVER SAYS TO THE EARTH ‘YOU OWE ME’ LOOK WHAT HAPPENS WITH A LOVE LIKE THAT A WHOLE WORLD BLOOMS. IT’S THE LOVE THEY ARE FORGETTING, THE LOVE THE SUN GIVES DOWN TO THE EARTH TO BE SHARED WITH EVERY TRAVELLER EVERY MIGRANT. DO NOT LET THEM FORGET THE LOVE 🌞

Since 2017, @nuartaberdeen has hosted some of the world’s greatest figurative street muralists and abstract urban image makers. For this year’s iteration of the award-winning international festival, the organisers partnered with @buildhollywood Scotland, inviting established and early-career artists to respond to this year’s theme: POETRY IS IN THE STREETS.   Letting their words loose in the Granite City with a range of street activations that included mural takeovers, art walks, treasure hunts, and light installations, the free festival transformed the city into a vibrant open-air gallery which featured work by @alisaoleva , @subvertiser , @mollyhankinson.studio , @robertmontgomeryghost , @trackiemcleod , and many others. Keep swiping to see how they responded to this year’s theme.   Be it monumental or intimate, official or informal, POETRY IS IN THE STREETS, and Aberdeen is all the better for it.    Full feature out now - linkinbio.

Loved @nuartaberdeen 2026? Tell us what worked and what could be even better. Your feedback helps shape future events across the city. Our quick survey takes less than 5 minutes and you could win a £50 Aberdeen Gift Card as a thank you. Share your thoughts via our linkbio. 📷️ : @conorgaultphoto // 🎨: @trackiemcleod 📍Rennie’s Wynd, Aberdeen AB11, UK #NuartAberdeen #AberdeenInspired #AberdeenCity #NuartFestival