Hopeless Response to Coral Green and Viking Blue - MAFA Body Of Work

We don’t need to escape the reality of social neglect and deprivation when the government can just paint over it!

This project critically examines the visual and political erasure of social neglect in Edinburgh’s Dumbiedykes housing scheme. Named after the official paint colours—Coral Green and Viking Blue—used to coat the facades of its tower blocks, the work questions the city’s superficial attempts to mask the housing scheme under a fresh coat of paint.

The choice of colours, reportedly meant to help the buildings blend into the landscape and become less of an “eyesore” from the vantage point of Arthur’s Seat, underscores a deeper narrative of urban invisibility. By highlighting how aesthetic interventions serve as a substitute for meaningful social reform, Hopeless Response to Coral Green and Viking Blue confronts the tension between public perception, policy-driven beautification, and the lived realities of those within these spaces.