Malta artist turns Marsa flyover into giant green picnic in sky
# Artist dangles 12 metres above Marsa traffic to turn ‘ugly’ wall into vertical picnic
Marsa’s newest lunch spot is strictly BYO-basket, requires a harness and sits a dizzying four storeys above Triq Aldo Moro. On Saturday afternoon, passers-by rubbed their eyes as local artist and certified climber Becky Warrington unfolded a chequered blanket, produced a plate of ġbejniet and dangled her legs over a 30-metre-long strip of fresh green paint that now zig-zags across the formerly grey concrete of the Marsa Central Link flyover pillar.
“Welcome to Malta’s first vertical picnic,” she laughed, toasting the traffic with a plastic cup of Kinnie while secured by two industrial ropes and a bemused fire-brigade crew. In 45 minutes the performance was over, but the pillar will stay lime-green for at least a decade under Transport Malta’s anti-graffiti coating, a living reminder that even the most utilitarian stretches of Maltese infrastructure can become canvases for conversation.
## From eyesore to talking point
The stunt is the culmination of a six-month community project called *Ħarsa Ġdida* (New View), masterminded by Warrington together with Marsa mayor Stefan Micallef and local NGO *Redefine*. The brief was simple: reclaim the most complained-about wall on the island without spending a Eurocent of public funds. Warrington crow-sourced €4,200 through Maltese arts platform *Zaar*, convinced paint giant J. Portelli Projects to donate 180 litres of weather-proof emulsion, and spent three weeks pressure-washing, priming and masking the 400 m² surface with help from 42 Marsa residents aged 9 to 82.
“Everyone associates Marsa with congestion and dust,” Micallef told *Hot Malta*. “For once we wanted drivers to slow down for something beautiful.” Traffic data collected Saturday shows average speed on the south-bound lane dropped by 7 km/h during the picnic, a side-effect the mayor calls “accidental traffic-calming”.
## A green stripe with history
The colour choice is no random whim. Warrington matched the exact Pantone of the prickly-pear paddles that still sprout from abandoned fields between the race-track and the old railway line, a nod to Marsa’s agricultural past. Embossed along the stripe are 28 white silhouettes: a galloping horse (the racetrack), a rowing boat (the 1590-a.d. harbour ferry) and the curved prow of a Phoenician merchant ship, all symbols crowdsourced from Marsa primary-school homework assignments.
“Kids drew what they felt represented their hometown,” the artist explained, still clipped to her rope. “I just connected the dots.”
## Community impact already visible
Local cafés are feeling the uplift. *Cafe du Sud*, directly opposite the wall, served a record 137 coffees on Saturday, owner Rita Pace noting that most customers asked for outdoor tables “with a view of the green”. Meanwhile *Redefine* has scheduled weekly climbing-cleanups where volunteers abseil to pick litter trapped in the shrubbery below, turning Saturday’s spectacle into sustained civic pride.
Even Malta’s infamous wall-scribblers seem impressed. “No one’s touched it,” Warrington said, pointing to the pristine surface. “Taggers respect pieces that mean something.”
## Culture beyond Valletta
Arts Council Chair Albert Marshall praised the initiative for decentralising culture. “Too often we equate ‘cultural event’ with Valletta or Paola,” he said. “When art meets everyday infrastructure, it democratises beauty.”
The project also feeds into national climate targets: light-green surfaces reduce ambient temperature by up to 2°C, according to a 2022 University of Malta study, a small but welcome offset to the heat-island effect generated by surrounding asphalt.
## What next?
Warrington is already scouting the Hamrun underpass for phase two: a “horizontal sunset” stretching 600 m beneath the railway bridge. But for now she hopes the Marsa stripe becomes a landmark in its own right. “We’ve proved you don’t need millions or ministries,” she said, finally touching ground. “Just rope, paint and a ridiculous idea you believe in.”
As the Kinnie fizz settled and the ropes came off, drivers resumed their rush-hour crawl—many still glancing upwards, perhaps imagining their own picnic in the sky. In a country where public space is often fought over, the vertical lawn offers a rare patch of common ground, no seat reservation required.
