Public conversations of social value: Martin Firrell is a British contemporary artist known for public artworks on billboards around the world. He uses the poster form to campaign for greater social equality, aiming 'to make the world more humane'. Firrell has made more artworks expressly for the billboard medium than any other living artist. His wholesale colonisation of advertising’s oldest and boldest format represents a seizmic shift in Fine Art's centre of gravity and renders Firrell one of the most apposite practitioners of the 21st Century. ~ Dr Robert Shelton.

Martin Firrell

British, born 1963

Martin Firrell is a British contemporary artist known for public artworks on billboards around the world. He uses the poster form to campaign for greater social equality, aiming 'to make the world more humane'. Firrell has made more artworks expressly for the billboard medium than any other living artist. His wholesale colonisation of advertising’s oldest and boldest format represents a seizmic shift in Fine Art's centre of gravity and renders Firrell one of the most apposite practitioners of the 21st Century. ~ Dr Robert Shelton.

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The One Irreducible Truth About Humanity Is Diversity

London UK, 2005

The One Irreducible Truth

paraphrases sexologist, Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956). Displayed in the mass transit environments of London's railway stations, the artwork socialises Kinsey's view that variousness is the one characteristic applicable to all human beings.

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We Live

International Transgender Day of Visibility UK-wide, 2026

Transgender people have always existed, continue to exist, and want - just like the rest of us - to live their best lives.

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We Live

International Transgender Day of Visibility UK-wide, 2026

In LGBTQIA+ parlance, "I live (for that)" or "I am living (for this)" means "This is something wonderful, valuable, impressive and life-affirming".

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Reading Books Is Dangerous. Don't Do It

World Book Day & UK National Year of Reading, 2026

If you want to encourage young people to do something, tell them not to do it.

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Barry

International Men's Day, Finland and UK, 2025

Barry

repurposes a page from a 1970s mass-market clothing catalogue. By celebrating an 'ordinary' man, the poster emphasises the inherent value in all men. It's not about doing something spectacular, it's enough just to be decent.

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Marsh

International Men's Day, Finland and UK, 2025

The expression, 'a man of the world', implies experience, worldiness and self-confidence.

Marsh

sets out to celebrate men who have 'lived a little', and learned about themselves and the world around them.

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The Question Mark Inside (Think)

Public artist in residence, St Paul's Cathedral London UK, 2008

For the 300th anniversary of the topping out of St. Paul's Cathedral,

The Question Mark Inside

deployed light and text to address the question, 'what makes life meaningful and purposeful?'

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The Question Mark Inside (I Don't Think This Is What God Intended)

Digital projection, West Front, St Paul's Cathedral London UK, 2008

Doubt plays an important role in Christian theological tradition. 'Doubting Thomas' is a compelling figure in the Christ story. John 20:25: 'Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.'

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The Question Mark Inside (I Don't Understand Why There Is War)

Digital projection, Whispering Gallery, St Paul's Cathedral London UK, 2008

All too often, the lives of ordinary people are affected by decisions out of their control and beyond their comprehension.

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Woman=Man (Stockholm, Sweden)

International Women's Day Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, UK, 2025

International Women's Day calls for equality regardless of gender; at its simplest, a world where woman=man.

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Kobieta=Mężczyzna (Warsaw, Poland)

International Women's Day Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, UK, 2025

Every year the United Nations chooses a different theme for International Women's Day. The theme for 2025:

“For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.”

Appréciez avant tout la beauté de la justice

International Day of Democracy Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK, 2023

What could be more beautiful than trying to say something about the world being more just or fairer? I can’t think of anything more exquisitely wondrous - the immense and vast beauty of justice - it’s better than all the coloured paint in the world, for me, at least.

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Værdsæt Retfædighedens Skønhed Over Alt Andet

International Day of Democracy Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK, 2023

Look to the day when justice is present in the world, independent, self-evident and self-perpetuating.

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They/Them

UK-wide, 2024

Pronouns like ‘they/them’ and 'ze/zir', and labels like ‘bi', 'gay', and 'non-binary', celebrated in public space, champion the visibility and validity of all LGBTQIA+ identities.

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All Identity Is Constructed (A Blonde Woman)

UK-wide, 2016

From birth, each of us has to construct our identity as a conscious act. If all identities are constructed, then all identities are, at root, equal.

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Complete Hero (War Is Always a Failure)

Artist in residence, Guards' Chapel London UK, 2009

For the Household Division of the British Army,

Complete Hero

presents a contemporary definition of heroism better suited to modern society. (Detail, quoting philosopher A.C. Grayling).

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Schwarz Ist Die Schwerkraft, Die Diese Strahlende Welt Zusammenhält

Basel & Zurich Switzerland, 2021

Ich vergleiche das Schwarz mit der intensiven Schwerkraft einer «Sonderbarkeit» oder eines schwarzen Lochs. Ich sehe Schwarz als tiefste Wahrheit in der unfassbaren Grenzenlosigkeit des Universums. Ohne Schwarz gäbe es keine Schwerkraft, keine Dunkelheit und nichts worin unsere lichterfüllte, farbige Welt ankern könnte. Was könnte sonst die sichtbare Welt davon abhalten ins Vergessen zu taumeln?

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Blau Trägt All Die Sehnsucht, Zu Der Ein Mensch Fähig Ist, In Sich

Basel & Zurich Switzerland, 2021

Ich liebe die Art, wie das blaue Licht sich von Dir zu entfernen scheint, und doch ist es Licht, das in der Dunkelheit auf dich zukommt. Rudolf Steiner sagte, dass Blau den Eindruck erweckt sich von uns zu entfernen, und dieser Umstand erweckt den Wunsch in uns, darauf zuzugehen, es zu verfolgen, danach zu greifen. Ich fühlte, dass mit dem perfekten Blau auch die Sehnsucht perfekt ausgedrückt werden könnte. Es würde alle Sehnsucht beinhalten derer ein menschliches Wesen jemals zu fühlen fähig wäre.

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Power Is Always Temporary

Royal Opera House London UK, 2007

Anyone in any position of power, regardless of their gender or intentions, should be mindful of the inherent and ultimate precariousness of their position.

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Une moule à lèvres bleues s'ouvre et révèle un cheval

100th anniversary of Surrealism, Antwerp & Brussels Belgium, 2024

14 days before André Breton, poet Yvan Goll published Surrealism's first manifesto, calling for a deeper, empirical examination of reality. Goll rejected Breton's emphasis on dreams and chance as

counterfeit surrealism.

Accordingly, Firrell's Gollian-surrealist poster derives from the empiral observation that a mussel shell is similar in shape to a horse's skull.

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Als De Laatste Wilde Orchidee Gecultiveerd Is, Bestaat De Wilde Orchidee Niet Meer

100th anniversary of Surrealism, Antwerp & Brussels Belgium, 2024

When the Last Wild Orchid Is Cultivated, the Wild Orchid Exists No More

is a critical assessment of the value we ascribe to a thing. We want the flower because of its wild beauty and we cultivate it to possess it. But if it subsequently disappears from the wild, even though the plant itself persists, the wild flower is lost forever.

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The First Manifesto of Surrealism

100th anniversary edition, 2024

Yvan Goll's manifesto of Surrealism - the movement's first - was not readily available in English so the artist translated Goll's text from the French and published it on the 100th anniversary of Surrealism.

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We Can Be Every Thing (Helsinki Pride, Finland)

Pride Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brighton, Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, London, Manchester, Oslo, Riga, Stockholm, Utrecht, 2025

LGBTQIA+ identity implies a certain kind of freedom: the freedom to realise selfhood in new ways, to live authentically and creatively in any walk of life.

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Freedom of Expression

All artworks courtesy of the artist. Copyright Martin Firrell 1996-present. Website copyright Martin Firrell Company Ltd. Registered in England and Wales no.7337269.