Pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart has been honoured in Derry, Northern Ireland, with a mural thought to be the region’s tallest ever.
Created on the city’s quayside on the North West Regional College’s Foyle building, the mural by street artist Jeks, known for his hyper-realistic works, depicts the American pilot with a slightly frowning gaze turned skyward, a pair of flying goggles on her forehead. It takes its place among a suite of Derry street art created by nearly 30 artists and installed for the city’s Get Up Street Art Festival.
A flavour of fantastic murals being created in Derry as part of Peaball Street Art Collective's 'Get Up' initiative at @dcsdcouncil's @foylemaritime.
— Catherine McGinty (@CathMcGin_Tea) June 30, 2024
Amazing works by Friz (Bangor) & Dan Leo (Kilkenny) are featured in @irish_news video, from Lower Clarendon Street in the city. pic.twitter.com/K10Ko6ukcJ
Invited to take part in the festival by organisers, Peaball Street Art Collective, Jeks said, “I loved the idea of painting Amelia Earhart, an American who flew across the Atlantic and landed here in Derry, so I designed the mural, and I am just freestyling these clouds at the minute.” Referring to the huge scale of the work, he noted: “Although I am usually 100ft up in the air painting, I have had tonnes of interaction with people passing down the quay. So far everyone seems to love it, especially the kids.”
Earhart landed successfully in Derry 92 years ago, completing her 1932 attempt to become the first woman to make a solo transatlantic flight. Having taken off from Newfoundland in Canada heading for Paris, due to bad weather she instead landed her Lockheed Vega 5B in a field just outside Northern Ireland’s second city. She once recounted the welcome of the field’s owner, who when he heard she had no money, told her, “We’ll see you right”. Earhart retains a certain mystique in the public imagination due to her still-unexplained disappearance five years later.
Noting the many “striking pieces” in the festival line up, the district council’s head of culture, Aeidin McCarter, praised the Earhart mural as a way to mark the aviator’s special relationship with Derry, remarking: “It’s only fitting that we celebrate this iconic female pioneer who has such strong associations with the city, and what a wonderful way to do it”.
🎬 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐫𝐚𝐩… 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘end!
— Foyle Maritime Festival (@foylemaritime) July 1, 2024
⛵ Thanks to our amazing partners who took part.
Also, we'd like to thank all our fantastic volunteers, security, staff and thanks to our Sponsors Tourism NI, Diageo and Ulster University pic.twitter.com/2pr8dnmQGB
Meanwhile, Nicole McElhinney, representing the Amelia Earhart Legacy Association, said they “have always wanted to see” a commemoration like the mural and, she told BBC News NI, the members “have been very excited watching it coming together.” She noted the way Earhart had “broken the glass ceiling” for women in aviation “when so very few women even drove a car.”
The association is hoping a statue of Earhart may also follow and, McElhinney argues, the city should make more of its Earhart-based heritage. “What she did when she landed here was a huge achievement,” she said, adding, “there is so much potential in the association with her especially in terms of tourism.”
