Belfast has a growing street art scene, which is brightening up people's lives during their lockdown walks. Artist Nuala Convery (28) from the north of the city, who goes by the alias ‘Wee Nuls’, is part of this burgeoning art scene and aims to make the city more colourful. 
 
“I started creating murals in 2017, my first ever mural was actually in Bristol," she said. "I was over visiting a friend there who painted graffiti regularly and they helped me paint my first mural on a ‘legal wall’.  
 
"I’ve been interested in street art and graffiti for a long time and was really interested in the graffiti scene in Belfast and big cities like Berlin and London – but I didn’t know how to start or get into it. Once I had done my first one I was hooked, and I was able to find a few spaces in Belfast that I could practice legally, with the help of some friends who showed me the ropes.”
 
Nuala has collaborated with both local artists and those from further afield. Speaking of one of her favourite experiences of creating artwork in Belfast she says: “My favourite mural so far is probably the collaborative piece I painted outside the Sunflower Bar in Belfast with Seattle-based artist ‘Ten Hun’, and Belfast based artist ‘KVLR’. 

Ten Hun is a massive artist and YouTuber and he was on a tour of Europe painting murals as he went. I had actually never heard of him before, but his work is amazing, so when he messaged me the day he landed in Belfast I was immediately on a mission to find a wall or space that we could paint legally while he was here.

"Thankfully Pablo, the owner of Sunflower Bar, had just replaced his outer smoking area panels and they were blank – they’re usually covered in street art. I gave him a message and sent him some photos of our work and he agreed to let us do whatever we wanted on the wall!  The piece is really colourful and a great combination of all of our work which I love.”
 
Street art is one of the limited ways that new art can be viewed by the public during lockdown. Those interested can use a Google Map Street Art Guide to find artwork to visit on their walks and are advised to follow public health guidelines.

“I think it’s more important than ever right now with the closure of art galleries throughout the pandemic. One of the reasons I love creating street art so much is the accessibility of it – anyone can go and see it. Right now one of the only ways you can see art is going on a walk past street art and graffiti spots, or viewing art online on social media and ‘VR’ galleries. 
 
"I hope that the city continues to put funding into urban art as it makes Belfast a more interesting and creative place for everyone.
 
"As you can imagine at the moment a lot has been put on hold as we’re all in lockdown! But I’ll hopefully be painting at this years ‘Hit The North Street Art Festival’ again which should happen in May 2021.”
 
 Nuala’s webstore: weenulsstore.com
 Google Map Street Art Guide: https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/publicart