Derry and Strabane have been given a splash of colour and creativity to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and the arrival of spring.
Local artists and designers have decorated the city centre as well as parts of Strabane as part of a scheme to re-animate and energise the city and towns in the area.
Part of the North West Carnival Initiative’s 'Imagine That' programme, it involves the creation of pop-up displays in Derry city centre, around the city’s walls, at St Columb’s Park and Brooke Park. Artists have also created a willow structure at Strabane Allotments while the County Tyrone town’s well-known Ambrose the Pig statue has also got a spring makeover.
One of the artists involved, Donal O’Doherty of Peaball Creatives, believes the use of colour can help lift spirits.
“You don’t really appreciate how bit a difference a bit of colour makes until you see it all finished. Even when we were working on it, we had a lot of people stopping on their way past, saying how great it was and watching how the process worked,” Mr O’Doherty said.
