🎵Oh, we do like to be beside the Lagan🎵
Ok, we’ve never heard anyone sing this either. BUT…
What if we could cultivate seaside, leisurely vibes along the banks of our city’s rivers?
This was our question to artists Laura Nelson and Leo Boyd, who produced these already iconic selfie boards drawing inspiration from Samson and Goliath (the Harland & Wolff cranes that dominate the Belfast skyline), the river’s burgeoning seal colony and the hyper-local idiom ‘I didn’t come up the Lagan in a bubble’ (loose translation: I wasn’t born yesterday/you can’t pull the wool over my eyes). We think going up the Lagan in a bubble sounds quite fun actually. Try it yourself!
You can find them (and stick yer face in ‘em!) in our CastleCourt space Here’s One I Made Earlier…! for now, but we’re going to be taking them to a Big Fish and towpath near you. Stay tuned to our socials (links above) for details.
If you spot our selfie boards on the move, please share your pics and tag us on Instagram @pssquared #WaterWorks #Belfast2024
About Laura’n’Leo
Laura Nelson’s current work revives the traditional art of sign-painting and often humorously references both nostalgia and better times to come. She is a founding member of Vault Artist Studios.
Laura is also one of the amazing artist facilitators on WATER WORKS (more here), building boats in schools and at festivals across the city, throughout the year. We’re also trying to rope her (boom boom 🥁) into helping us build boat costumes for our 10,000 boat corso event.
Leo Boyd’s work is often playful, both in his use of media, and themes which tend towards mashing day-glo pop culture with surveillance capitalism and the day-to-day absurdity of modern life. He is a founding member of Vault Artist Studios.
Leo was the brains behind our Boatbuilding for Creatives workshop, which invited people to build a surrealist skiffs and cubist coracles to float in our giant paddling pool. We’ll definitely run this again if we can! Keep yer eyes peeled.
