Melbourne - Street art

Nothing screams Melbourne as loud as colorful street art in approved locations.

Find a complete map of street art locations in Melbourne available here for download.

During the few days exploring the city, I started to wonder about the roots of the movement, which seem to relate to the visit of Keith Haring to Australia. Back in Q1 1984, he spent nearly a month in Australian shores undertaking a series of public works in town. Already an international art superstar and central to the New York art scene at the time, he accepted the invite from John Buckley, inaugural director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA).

The main remainder of this visit is the Keith Haring mural in Collingwood - the cool hood where we went for stand-up comedy, dinner and drinks on Friday night - but somehow its influence spread well beyond into many other walls in the city, leading to those colourful surprises which are found around the central area.

Hosier Lane may be the most famous (and crowded one) but there are plenty of pieces to admire, in the parallel streets to AC / DC Lane as well as in many other places in town - first picture is from Docklands area, as an example. There's something I love about street art. Maybe because of growing up in a hood where Graffiti was part of the culture or because of my admiration for Banksy, street art is so refreshing to me. In terms of scale, palette and social criticism, it remains the ultimate freedom of expression, as one can also note in Berlin, a city that suffered censorship but now thrives with a huge sense of individualism and expression.



Pro gay marriage propaganda, seen in Docklands.

Love the collage

The famous AC / DC Lane.

Gotta love the collage.


Everywhere you go, there's something remarkable around the corner

A tale of princesses - let it go gurl!


Shame on you, idiot who ruined this amazing Biggie mural.

Unicorns and rainbows, of course.

Contrast between modern graffiti and old architecture.

A very famous tapas bar which I could consider trying, despite my aversion for Spanish food outside Spain - never turns pretty, specially when you are charged a fortune for bread...

Stencils à la Banksy.