Recently I returned from a two week Artist Residency in Chiang Mai, Thailand. As a mural artist coming into a community I have realised I am in a very privilege position. Not only do I have the skills to create large scale murals, but I am able have a voice that can be shared within the community I paint in. As a visitor in a community, I feel that I should be using my talents to support the locals to have their own voice in their own communities. This looks like creating space, listening, mentoring and sacrificing my personal style/vision to support and incorporate the communities voice. Sometimes the communities help paint the walls, sometimes they provide guidance and knowledge in designing the murals. I have compiled a number of community murals I have managed over the last few years.
The Good Lab Community Mural
Chiang Mai, Thailand // Feb 2024
The most recent community mural from Chiang Mai, Thailand. Myself and six artists from across the globe spent a week researching, listening and understanding the environmental issues that locals face. Our public outcome was a 25m long mural. We painted one wall of 'scary alley' and ran paste up and painting workshops for the local children to come and contribute to the wall. The concept was focused around the next generation being the answer to the air pollution. Visually the mural moved through what could happen to Chiang Mai if nothing was done to manage the farming fires, to a better future where the children contributed to a bright and beautiful space.
This initiative was run by Micro Galleries.
Bli Bli State School Library Mural
Sunshine Coast, QLD // Dec 2023
I worked closely with Bli Bli State School to create an inclusive, vibrant mural for their new refurbished library. I ran a concept development workshop with the Arts Excellence students from the school. We explored colour, icons and mark making during the two hour workshop. The students created imagery and colour combinations they thought would work well in the library environment. I photographed all the artworks and created a mural that symbolised all the amazing ideas the students had: soccer, chess, computer games, basketball, science, history. The colours were chosen by the students and the final concepts were voted on by the school community. A collective effort.
Balonne Community Centre & Skatepark Murals
St George, QLD // March 2023
Working closely with the leaders at the Balonne Community Centre I designed a mural for their space and the local skatepark. The youth in the community were encouraged to help paint the community centre in a 'paint by numbers' scenario. They also helped cut stencils and sprayed them at the Skate Park (in between swimming in the creek and grinding rails). This gave the locals a sense of ownership over their community centre and public spaces.
Narangba Valley State High School Murals
Narangba, QLD // November 2022
After a concept development workshop with the senior art students, I developed three murals based on the schools brief and the students concepts. Over three days, the students helped create the murals by cutting stencils, painting the wall and adding an anti graffiti coating on completion.
Kawana Police Station Community Mural
Sunshine Coast, QLD // August 2022
The PCYC encouraged the youth from the local schools and sporting teams to join us for a day of painting and sausage sizzle to create this mural. I pre-designed the mural based on the brief and prepared the stencils. The youth painted the background and then sprayed the stencils to create this 60m wall.
Nambour Community Centre Mural
Sunshine Coast, QLD // June/July 2022
Over four weeks I worked with local Art Therapist, Nicola Turshwell to deliver a program to the Community Centre Women's group. As part of this program I had two emerging artists to mentor throughout the program to teach and encourage them to develop similar programs. The outcome over the four weeks was a community mural that was installed along the garden in the Community Centre.
YouTurn and Headspace Murals
Sunshine Coast, QLD // 2022/21
Various public art projects involving the YouTurn youth groups. One of the murals is a collaboration with local indigenous artist, Jandamarra Cadd and the mens fishing group from Headspace.
Carseldine Village Energy Boxes (Qld Government)
Aspley, QLD // July 2021
Over two workshops with students from Aspley State High School we created artworks to be wrapped onto Energex Boxes throughout the new Carseldine Village Development. The students used their life in the community as inspiration for the artworks.
Arts Ablaze Conference Community Mural
Kooralbyn, QLD // May 2019
The tri-panel public mural was built by the locals Mens Shed and over the three-day Arts Ablaze Conference, various participants helped paint the oversized brown snake (representative animal of Kooralbyn). I pre-designed the outline of the snake and the conference participants filled in the snake with patterns and colour. The finished artwork has been installed on the front of the local Community Centre. As part of this project I also gave a talk on the importance of community voices in public art.
Queensland Rail Overpass Mural
Ormiston, QLD // May 2019
Queensland Rail commissioned me to work with a local floral artistry group to develop a mural concept for a rail overpass. Over several weeks and two workshops we designed a mural and came together for a day of painting to create the final outcome. Many of the women had never used spray paint, but worked beautifully as a team to create this vibrant outcome.
Nepal Women on Wall Mural
Kathmandu, Nepal // Dec 2018
Over several months I communicated with the local Patan Women's group about the voice they wanted to have in the community. From these talks I developed a mural design which encouraged the women to come and paint the wall themselves. For a more comprehensive explanation of this project, please head over here. Or watch the video below. This initiative was run by Micro Galleries.
Indonesia Women on Wall Mural
Jakarta, Indonesia // Sep 2017
Similar to the Nepal Women on wall, we created a community wall where we encouraged women in the community to have a voice on their local mural. A more comprehensive blog post about this project can be found here. This initiative was run by Micro Galleries.
We are looking to run this program throughout the globe and are looking to partner with organisations and community groups that would benefit from a project like Women on Wall.
If you are interested in running a Community Mural in your part of the world, please get in touch.
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