A new colourful mural has been completed in Dundee city centre as one woman’s mission to make the Keiller Centre great again gains momentum.
Kathryn Rattray has been championing the long-struggling shopping centre for the past few months.
With the help of Dundee City Council, she brought on board fellow artist Catriona Higgins who painted the mural in a courtyard near the Arctic Bar entrance to the building.
The feature also acts as a playground with lots of colour, hearts, ladders, and positive mind-set phrases.
‘People are amazed at the transformation’
The idea is the artwork will attract more footfall to the largely empty centre with Kathryn determined to turn round its fortunes.
She said: “I love the mural, it’s bright, playful with an important message of keeping a strong and positive mindset.
“Particularly right now, there’s so much doom and gloom we all need a gentle reminder to keep looking for the beauty in our world.
“I’m a big fan of Catriona’s work, style and aesthetic. She also has a brilliant work ethic, focussed, positive and strong, she’s a ray of light.
“There has been huge positive feedback about the mural. People are amazed at the transformation at New Inn Entry, the colours, shapes and wild flowers bring what was once a drab part of town a new lease of life.
“It has been great seeing kids play on the mural, jumping between shapes, recognising numbers, pointing in amazement.
“I think we all need to find a connection with our inner child, that free spirit that’s in all of us.”
Hope for more footfall in Keiller Centre
The Keiller Centre sits on the site of the first Keiller Factory which produced confectionary in the late 1800s before it burned down.
A replacement factory continued operations near Clepington Road and produced marmalade that was renowned the world over.
The centre was named after the factories and was Dundee’s go-to shopping destination for a period in the 1980s and early 1990s.
But now only a few businesses remain and many only use it as a shortcut to and from the High Street.
Kathryn operates The Federation art gallery inside the Keiller and has led on work to use art as the centre’s new focal point.
As well as her own gallery and the space outside, a new art gallery could soon open opposite hers operated by NeOn Digital Arts Festival.
She said: “There’s definitely a feeling of civic pride here now. When I first moved into the centre, the outside was so bad as it was post-Covid.
“But we’ve had all the walls painted and it looks so much better. It’s interesting because all the litter dropping has stopped.
“Touch wood, nobody has been tagging any of the posters on display or the walls
“It just feels like this little hidden gem that’s developing.
“I’m still determined to make the Keiller Centre great again.”
Kathryn says she is “very grateful” for the partnership formed with Dundee City’s Council’s centre manager Gaynor Sullivan who she says has given the project so much support.
Conversation