Well, let us spray
Kelly Ryan
July 24, 2006
A SUREFIRE way of beating graffitists at their own game is simply to paint them out of the picture.
That is partly why a group of would-be artists sacrificed a Sunday sleep-in to start work on an important new mural in South Melbourne yesterday.
Sponsored by Metlink, the City of Port Phillip and Whitelion -- a charity that helps disadvantaged youth going through the justice system -- the mural aims to give the teens a sense of pride in their local community.
Armed with dozens of spray-paint cans, the group will spend the next few days bringing to life some of South Melbourne's landmarks.
The market and its produce, the beach and South Melbourne Soccer Club will all be brightly depicted on walls at the light-rail stop.
Organisers take some comfort from street lore, which says illegal graffiti artists rarely deface official murals.
The coolest thing about the mural from our perspective is that we are placed in equal importance with the South Melbourne/Sydney Swans, a poignant reminder that Hellas - and to a lesser extent, soccer in general - have been in the area for a long time. Now if only we could get some South Melbourne Hellas/FC branding onto Lakeside
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| The mural as seen from the South Melbourne Station tram stop on Route 96. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I sourced the photo from. Click the image to enlarge the photo. |
I remember my cousins used to live right near that particular tram stop. Coming back from the city together as kids to their place my brother and I always saw this and despite having no recollection of any South Melbourne Hellas experience (we were probably round 5 y.o. here) would have this inexplicable feeling of pride seeing the logo.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why it meant to so much to us, given I honestly had no recollection of the club at that age and can only guess that being that young, Greek and during the NSL era probably had some SMH pride seep into our sub conscious!
Always thought and still do think it's awesome seeing the club in the community this way, not in the finite, forced promotional events but intrenched somewhat permanently in art, that is both a reflection of our culture and shows our importance to the local area.
That's pretty special to me.
That seamless entrenchment in the community is the important part, isn't it? Not forced in any way, which is often how our community based efforts come across unfortunately.
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