{"id":7756,"date":"2025-07-20T06:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T06:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/7756\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T06:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T06:11:09","slug":"this-trio-has-mapped-hundreds-of-murals-across-melbourne-here-are-15-of-the-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/7756\/","title":{"rendered":"This trio has mapped hundreds of murals across Melbourne. Here are 15 of the best"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThat was the very start of street art in the city,\u201d says Dean Sunshine<\/a>, who published two books about Melbourne\u2019s street art scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are only a handful of Keith Haring murals left in the world, so we\u2019re very fortunate to have that here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunshine runs a business in Brunswick<\/a> and has become something of a street art patron, offering his walls to artists as a free canvas.<\/p>\n

Controversy erupted here a decade ago, however, when a Kama Sutra burger mural that depicted sex acts drew council ire<\/a>. The municipality\u2019s push to \u201cedit\u201d the work then sparked backlash<\/a> from those who decried artistic censorship \u2013 a familiar story in Fitzroy, where a mural depicting a woman in bondage became the subject of outrage<\/a> in May when women\u2019s safety activists campaigned to have it removed.<\/p>\n

Sunshine is wary about street art becoming more official and mainstream.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelbourne strives as a city filled with lanes of street art, which generates lots of tourist income,\u201d he says. \u201cBut you cannot have a street art scene without acknowledging the graffiti culture that was here first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunshine believes Melbourne\u2019s street art peaked in the early 2010s and says he isn\u2019t a huge fan of the more recent silo art in regional Victoria<\/a>, which has become a tourist bonanza. <\/a><\/p>\n

He is also a little less excited about the spread of council-driven murals and organised street art festivals, like those held in Frankston<\/a> and Mordialloc<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it just goes against what the initial scene was about \u2013 artists going out and painting for the love of it, not for money,\u201d he says. \u201cBut then again, these days, the artists are actually getting paid for their work, so that\u2019s definitely a positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaun Hossack, meanwhile, founded Juddy Roller, which curates art \u2013 such as Adnate\u2019s mural on a Collingwood public housing tower<\/a> \u2013 for developers and councils.<\/p>\n

\"Shaun<\/p>\n

Shaun Hossack, founder of Juddy Roller, an award-winning street art network at Adnate Mural Collingwood.Credit: Joe Armao<\/p>\n

\u201cMelbourne is very much fixated on realism, portraiture and almost literal depictions of life,\u201d Hossack says. \u201cWhereas I think European artists are more informed by a more abstract and gestural aesthetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyrone Wright, better known as Rone, got into street art through skateboarding in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

He creates major<\/a> immersive displays, such as Time<\/a>, which took over the entire third level of Flinders Street Station in 2022.<\/p>\n

But before that, he was part of the Everfresh Crew in Melbourne\u2019s inner-north, an influential street art group that created long-lasting murals such as Welcome to Sunny Fitzroy off Johnston Street.<\/p>\n

\"Tyrone<\/p>\n

Tyrone Wright (aka Rone), a prominent street artist, in front of his Welcome to Sunny Fitzroy mural just off Johnston Street.Credit: Joe Armao<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was something amazing about those times. It was great to see that we influenced people,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Street art] changes so often. It may not be there tomorrow. That\u2019s what made me fall in love with it in the first place. It\u2019s an exciting art form.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gumbaynggirr woman Aretha Brown is among a younger generation of muralists who did not emerge from the graffiti scene.<\/p>\n

Her first mural on Melbourne\u2019s streets was on a shipping container at Footscray station<\/a> in 2019. She is now preparing for an exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Aretha<\/p>\n

Aretha Brown with her mural on Collins Street back in 2022.Credit: Simon Schluter<\/p>\n

\u201cAboriginal women have been doing public art for ages if you include rock art, which I do,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m just using paint from Bunnings instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portuguese-born street art hunter Lia Arraiano, who moved to Australia from France 18 months ago, reckons this wide range of murals makes Melbourne unique.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a bit of it where I lived,\u201d she says. \u201cBut here, the quality of the street artists is exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThat was the very start of street art in the city,\u201d says Dean Sunshine, who published two books…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-7756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}