A dark corner in downtown Dartmouth is getting a large and colourful upgrade.
An empty wall at the corner of Portland Street and Victoria Street is getting a brightly coloured, lighted mural, courtesy of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission and with the help of an artist from Philadelphia.
It’s part of a push to revitalize the downtown area and shed Dartmouth’s moniker as the “darkside.”
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The Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission says it was inspired after stumbling upon the Percy Street Project in Philadelphia and invited its creator to do something similar in downtown Dartmouth.
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“This mural transformed a dark alley of Philadelphia into this place where people want to gather at night and take pictures and I thought, ‘That is fantastic,'” said Crystal Garrett, a spokesperson for the business commission.
David Guinn is the artist behind the Percy Street Project.
“We came up with this idea for a hybrid electric mural. Philadelphia is known for its painted murals but the lighting brings this whole new dimension,” he told Global News.
The belief is that the lights will add to the mural and make it pop off the wall.
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A local artist has been commissioned to work with Guinn to learn how to maintain the mural and look for opportunities for similar projects around Dartmouth.
The Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission says it hopes to inspire other mural artists to incorporate lighting into their work.
The mural will be officially unveiled and lit up on the night of August 16.