I've been meaning to post these pictures for a while. With the exception of the people pile (which is near the Victoria Markets), they're all taken in a lane in Melbourne, across Flinders Street from Federation Square. Hosier Lane, I think it's called. The whole lane is covered in an amazing array of stencilling, like the frenzied work of an acid-damaged decorator who just inherited a paint factory. As I enjoyed a nice cup of tea and sit down in the Fed Square foyer that afternoon, I watched as a steady stream of photographers browsed up and down marvelling at the show.
The authorities, in their wisdom, spoke of painting all of this over to nice-ify the city for the Commonwealth Games. Silly authorities. This lane illustrates much of what makes Melbourne so appealing: colour, culture, grottiness, visual interest, a lack of sterility. A quirky sense of fun and a comforting sense of confidence. This is a very good thing. Brisbane once had a hint of it, but swept it aside in favour of shiny steel and glass, clean surfaces and a cultural lobotomy. Clean places like Hosier Lane up and all you have left is shitty weather, traffic congestion and Moomba.
There were a great deal more than those I've shown here; these are just the ones I've gotten around to running through Photoshop. Perhaps finishing the effort will be a worthwhile study avoidance exercise.
Hosier Lane links
State of Flux
More images of the lane
Our Colourful Underbelly
Article from The Age. Melbourne is the stencil art capital of the world, apparently.
CLEAN
Installation in Hosier Lane for the duration of the Games
Geoff Crompton
Hosier Lane contributor
3 comments:
Awww. Thanks! And those pics are great. I really love the samauri.
:D
Yes, they're pretty cool. There were quite a line of them, but the shadows made it difficult to photograph the whole series. Glad you like it.
That's my favourite thing about Melbourne!
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