In the Land of Sunshine

When I asked previous participants of the Australia trip about what there is to do and see around Melbourne, I always was told of the graffiti walls. 

In my past experiences graffiti was the crude messages splayed across overpasses or on the sides of old buildings that criminals doing required community service scrubbed off. It was not something you went out of your way to see and admire. 

However, after arriving in Melbourne, I began to see the differences in their graffiti. One, there was a lot more of it. Two, it wasn’t offensive and didn’t devalue the area it was in. The graffiti was interesting, colorful, and invited the eye to try to decipher its meaning. Just riding the train from the suburbs into the city you are able to see walls painted in these modern hieroglyphics all along the way. Walking around a popular beach town the cement walls and wooden fences are tagged and decorated. I get the feeling that the removal of the graffiti is not on the top of the city’s priorities and that it does not have the same connotations to the people here as it does in the States. 

So one saturday as we were looking for a cheap but fun activity to do we decided to find these graffiti walls we had heard so much about. Shortly after arriving in the city we walked down a nearby street and immediately recognized the sly, knowing smile of the Joker from Batman spray painted on a dark cement wall. I could not believe that I had been on this street several times before and had never noticed the large white face staring at me until I began to look for it. 

We turned down the once ominous alleyway and entered a world of color.  Instead of the dingy, prison-cell, cement gray walls and abandoned, boarded up windows, this hidden gem of an alley exploded with the designs and dreams of street artists in vibrant color. Large murals covered the walls requiring a step back in order to take in the full grandeur while small details scribbled in window sills and crevices needed to be examined up close to appreciate their value.

Traffic cone orange, bubblegum pink, electric blue, and race car red designed geometrical patterns on one wall while the other was inscribed with inspirational and thought-provoking quotes framed in the blues of the Greek Islands. Distorted faces expressing fear and pain and joyful faces pouring love from their eyes watched as you made your way through their home.

Every inch was covered by beautiful depictions of  Indian elephants, ferocious lions, oriental fish, and dragons; comical images of the monopoly man, garden gnomes, sleeping beauty, Frankenstein, and buzz lightyear painting the words “toys will be toys”; paper posters of quotes were placed saying things like: “Welcome, you have nothing to fear” and “I don’t love you”; small doodles of cheeseburgers and hearts; more prominent quotes painted and framed in shades of blue said: “They’re not mad at you babe. They’re mad at the world” and “You look terrific babe” and You + Me wont be unhappy” and “could be worse, could be raining”; colorful bubble letters of names and slogans I couldn’t decipher. 

Stamped on a manhole cover on the ground was the slogan: “Land of Sunshine” which made me smile are realize how special and unique this whole city is. What was once crude acts of vandalism, they have been transformed into a powerful works of art.