City street art revolution continues

The City of Sydney Council’s street art program continues to grow, with two major new public artworks unveiled in recent days.

WE ARE HERE, a 75-metre long artwork in Foley St, Darlinghurst has been completed, as has Welcome to Redfern, a new mural covering the exterior of a terrace house in Redfern.

A street party will be held in Foley St this Friday night to welcome WE ARE HERE, which is part of the City of Sydney’s Streetware artwork program. Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said: “This new mural is a wonderful tribute to Darlinghurst’s colourful past, recognising the central role it’s played in our city’s history.”

Meanwhile, Welcome to Redfern by Aboriginal artist Reko Rennie, will be launched on Saturday afternoon. The Lord Mayor said it marked the first major step in the City’s Eora Journey, a public art trail celebrating Sydney’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

The two new artworks follow several other public art initiatives including the Rainbow Crossing at Taylor Square, celebrating Darlinghurst’s GLBTI heritage, which has approval from the State Government’s Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) authority until the end of March.

Always Was, Always Will Be – another temporary fixture, also by Reko Rennie – has seen the exterior of the former T2 Building at Taylor Square painted in bright, geometric fluoro patterns.

Darlinghurst businessman Stephan Gyory, owner of The Record Store, welcomed the street art initiatives as improvements to the neighbourhood.

“It’s a good thing,” he said. “I’m for anything that makes the area more colorful and vibrant.”

Mr Gyory has been inviting street artists to paint the exterior of his shop with colourful murals for the past eight years, with Council approval.

However, another local business owner, who did not want to be named, had a different take on the local street art.

“You try doing what they did to the T2 Building and it wouldn’t be allowed,” he said.

“If I wanted to paint my heritage building like that, I’d be laughed out of Council. But Council can do what they like because they write their own DAs.

“I’m not against public art but there seems to be one rule for Council and another for the public,” he added, also expressing concern about the cost of the projects, and the wisdom of spending public money on temporary art installations.

However, local artist and journalist Michael Gormly was more positive, opining that Council attitudes towards public art had improved.

“It’s good to see them supporting it,” he said. “Until a couple of years ago, the City had quite draconian attitudes towards public art and you’d often see them removing it within a couple of days, even when the building owner wanted it there.

“It seems they’ve become a bit more broad-minded and supportive in allowing it to stay, and even encouraging street artists to express themselves in certain locations.”