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Enjoying the community barbecue at Rath Óraigh on Thursday. Photo by Dermot Crean
FOUR murals at a Tralee housing estate were officially unveiled at a family day on Thursday afternoon.
The residents of Rath Óraigh at Rathass have been working with artist Muiríosa Murphy on a Community Art Mural project to strengthen the sense of ownership and pride within the estate and to unite the community.
It was a multi-generational project, five months in the making, as Muiríosa Murphy explained when we visited on Wednesday.
“We had the young people from the estate, teenagers from KDYS who engaged with the centre here and adults from this area and friends — it was a multi-generational effort,” she said.
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She stressed it was a project which really brought the community together.
“As you can see it was a great effort and they all engaged well with it. The younger children were very enthusiastic, the teenagers were creative and passionate about the design and the older people were happy to sit and colour and to talk about life and relationships. It was really lovely,” said Muiríosa.
Residents with Garda Cathy Murphy, artist Muiríosa Murphy at one of the murals at Rath Óraigh. Photo by Dermot Crean
Each of the four murals had a different theme. One was of the community childcare centre which is the heart of the estate, containing silhouettes of the children and staff in the foreground.
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Children in front of a mural at Rath Óraigh. Photo by Dermot Crean
Another features fairies and mushrooms, because there was a fairy fort in the area in the past and they have the handprints of some of the residents on the mural to create that sense of community bonding.
‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’.
From engaging with the young people and seeing their love of sport and football, another mural features the words ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ — the motto of the Olympics — showing the benefits of sport.
The mural showing some of the residents bonds with both Ireland and other parts of the world from which they, or their parents, originally came from. Photo by Dermot Crean
Finally, the estate is home to people of different nationalities who have settled here in Tralee. But they also a link to their original home or the homes of their parents, so a mural was created to show the bond between the two locations.
With a barbecue and music, the community came out to enjoy the afternoon and reflect on a job well done.
Ladies at the community barbecue at Rath Óraigh on Thursday. Photo by Dermot Crean
