City of Light – Imbolg
ILLUSTRATION // Client: Waterford County and City Council // Sector: Exhibition, Display, Art trail
Project description
In early 2025, along with five other artists, I was asked to collaborate on the City of Light project in Waterford City. My designated canvas was the facade of the Presbytery building on George’s Street for the duration of the city’s Samhain (theme 1) and Imbolg (theme 2) celebrations.
The City of Light project is the brainchild of Waterford City and County Council. Together with funding from Failte Ireland, the council has developed an innovative city trail to highlight Waterford city’s historic buildings, creating an exciting and enticing after-dark experience for visitors. The trail illuminates the night streets twice a year, symbolically at the seasonal junction of Samhain, when daylight starts to recede and again at Imbolg, when days begin to lengthen.
For my contribution to the second theme of the project, I chose to illustrate a hare surrounded by native plants such as foxglove and elderflower and a pair of swallows flying overhead. You can read about my illustration for theme 1 here.
The word Imbolc is thought to come from i mbolg, meaning “in the belly,” referencing the promise of new life. Historically, this festival was deeply tied to cycles of nature, fertility, and renewal. As hares are widely associated with the feminine and fertility, I have used the image of a bounding hare to represent the earth’s awakening at springtime. It is also a time of longer days and new growth – signified by the sun and emerging plants. As well as the return of light, springtime marks the arrival of migratory species, such as swallows, that come here to breed.
See a map of the trail here
WATCH an RTÉ clip where Keith Murphy, WCCC Tourism Officer, explains the idea behind Imbolc, the City of Light project here