Fire in Ice
2024 Street Wise Mural Festival
Location: Morrison Alley next to Bohemian Biergarten, 1245 Pearl St Boulder, CO 80302
Photos by Dona and Niko Laurita, Cam Margera, and Dittlo Digital
The Designosaur brought her signature bold and otherworldly style to the walls of Boulder for SWMF 2024. Her mural shocks the wall by rendering the vulnerable snow leopard in vibrant colors.
Fire in Ice illustrates how climate change negatively affects already-endangered species and animals that live in cold climates. A hyper-realistic snow leopard takes center stage on the wall surrounded by a cool icescape against the black starry night sky. Liquid flames erupt around the snow leopard, disrupting her icy environment.
The Designosaur’s snow leopard, while realistic, is also surreal. The leopard’s thick white coat speckled with black spots reflects the opposing elements that surround her. With her face in a three-quarters view, the cool blue tones dominate her fur, but the fiery reflection of orange and yellow quickly encroaches. Where the flames meet the ice, deep purple and red tones emerge. The flames seem to burst directly from the animal, revealing how the clock is ticking for the snow leopard.
Normally, the artist’s otherworldly and often psychedelic style depicts more light-hearted subject matter. Fire in Ice, however, seeks to communicate about more intense topics. The Designosaur’s mural is strikingly beautiful, but also disturbing, a feeling she wants to convey to viewers about the quickening disappearance of vulnerable and endangered species around the world.
This mural spotlights how climate change disproportionately affects already-vulnerable animals. Poaching, habitat loss, declines in natural prey species, and retaliatory killings account for the threats to snow leopards. However, climate change poses the greatest long-term threat to snow leopards. Already-at-risk animals around the world serve as the "canary in the coal mine" in relation to climate change, pointing to further devastating loss of biodiversity.
Since childhood, The Designosaur has had a deep connection with and love for animals, always counting snow leopards as one of her favorites. She wanted to use this opportunity to highlight an animal that is not local to the area; often faraway animals are not always top of mind when we think about climate change. In our increasingly interconnected world, it is important to consider how the local and the global affect one another.
Artist Bio:
The Designosaur (Julia Williams) is an artist, muralist, illustrator, and Colorado native. Julia describes her artistic style as “fantastical realism.” Her work takes inspiration from nature, mythology, and imagination, and often includes strong female figures, animals, neon colors, and space. She strives to create artwork that feels otherworldly and invokes a sense of wonder and mystery for the viewer.