Local street artist, Unity, helped the council “make people smile” with her colourful paintings on Fanny Street
A local artist has helped the council give Cathays residents something to smile about by covering a street in her colourful creations.
Unity, a Cardiff-based graffiti artist, was commissioned by the council to paint the electric boxes on Fanny Street, with designs inspired by local primary schoolchildren.
The project is part of a council effort to improve the appearance of the street and bring residents together during the pandemic.
Councillor Sarah Merry said, “This has been such a sad, lonely time for lots of people and anything that makes us feel connected to the people we live alongside has to be for the good,” adding that she hopes the painted boxes “make people smile.”
This has been such a sad, lonely time for lots of people and anything that makes us feel connected to the people we live alongside has to be for the good
According to the councillor, the street was put forward for a grant because it had become run down, with paving lifted up by tree roots, regular fly tipping and a very low score on the street greenery index.
Planting seeds for the future
The council have also added planters to the street to encourage small pockets of biodiversity, with plants suggested by Cardiff University’s Pharmabees, a research group helping make the city bee-friendly to fight superbugs.
This effort to improve biodiversity inspired Unity’s designs for the electric boxes.
The artist visited classes at St. Monica’s and Gladstone Primary School to ask the children to draw ideas based around pollination. She ended up with over 40 designs, which she said she tried to incorporate as much as possible in the final seven pieces.
Unity said the response has been overwhelmingly positive, with people interested to see the designs progress and commenting that they liked them as they walked past.
Unity also has several murals on display in Cathays, including on Crwys, Woodville and Senghennydd Road.
She hopes to be able to extend the project in the future and is currently discussing the possibility of painting the bins of residents next.
