Tattersall and Stevenson Lanes

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Mary C

below: Step Right ….. and Follow along!

below: In Melbourne’s CBD, Tattersall and Stevenson alleys are connected. They are also covered with a lot of paint and paper! As I wandered through these lanes I tried to capture some of the more interesting things, both big and small.

stevenson alley, lots of graffiti and street art, trash bins, metal kegs stack against one wall,

below: Spiderman likes taking pictures

graffiti in an alley, an image of spiderman with a camera, a pair of red underpants with waistband words going going gone, also a sticker with words end medical weight stigma

below: The Street Art Hunters (aka SAH) are dressed in hot pink!

graffiti poster by the street art hunters, group of three dressed in bright pink coveralls with black masks, psychadelic colours background

below: A purple Frankenstein along with his bride, also in purple, hanging out together behind bars. Artwork by Moon of Jupiter Art (aka Ryan Callisto)

graffiti poster by Ryan Callisto, a purple Frankenstein, along with a purple bride of Frankenstein, on a wall behind green metal bars, in an alley

below: Now in green. A small Complimentary Nuts paste-up is immediately below this version of Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein, “7 out of 10 dentists say that your teeth are awesome. The other three need your cash”.

below: A third poster by Ryan Callisto. This time Frankenstein is just a tattoo on her arm.

below: “You’ve got to love Melbourne!”

below: Fall in love, not in line

below: “Sending you love because wow! what a shithow” and Love is Hell.

below: “What if we kissed in the smouldering ruins of capitalism?”

below: Little beaded diamond shapes like these have appeared all over downtown Melbourne.

below: Every deck of cards needs a Joker

below: Two artworks, paper paste-ups. A woman’s portrait on top and a playing card style image of Jimmy Hendrix, the H of Hearts, below.

Graffiti paste up image, playing card style, I of hearts

below: Prince, in purple, becomes the P of Hearts in this playing card style image.

graffiti paste-up image of Prince singing, in purple, P of hearts,

below: When someone came along with a can or two of spray paint, the little girl with the “Just doubt Fascism” sign survived. The bug on the right is probably not too happy with the situation.

below: A musical bluebird by Lukas Kasper.

below: Is it smiling? or smirking?

painted street art on a brick wall, blue and yellow striped snake like creature with one big eye and a small mouth with yellow teeth, looks to be smiling

In an alley, wall and shared street zone signs are covered with stickers and spray paint graffiti

below: Two megaphones… and a very determined look on her face

black and white paste up a woman holding up a megaphone in each hand, partially obscured with pink spray paint

below: It’s always fascinating to see how some bits of graffiti last so much longer than others. Even if they are left untouched, they slowly weather and fade away until almost ghost-like.

below: While we are on the subject of “vintage” graffiti, there are four pieces on this wall by Junky (aka Daniel Lynch) They are looking a little rusty and forlorn. I first encountered ‘recycled’ cans like these when I was in Melbourne in 2016. See post, Junky Recyles

below: Button-eyed face

below: What is a Lost Form?

below: Door covered with posters, street art images

below: Closer view of the posters on the bottom half – SAH, Tweet

about 6 pasteups on a door in an alley, all images

below: top half

below: Scrawny alien-like character with big yellow eyes and spikey hair. Is there a pop culture reference for this guy?

below: The Postman and David Bowie

below: A blue Care Bear sticking out his tongue, and Robbo-T times two wandering in the forest.

below: Pink hair and blue eyes, times two

below: “Praise be the form eaters”. Any ideas as to what this means?

below: Looking a little closer… Still not sure….

below: Red eyes burning small but intense.

below: Parrot

below: Little yellow LEGO guys from Street Art Hunters, one with a gun and the other holding what looks like a container? a camera?

below: That’s probably Michael Jackson in the middle.

below: Dried flowers.

below: “Woman with Feathers”, a collaboration between Adnate and Shida, 2012

portrait of a woman, surround by wispy feathers, high on a brick wall, by adnate and shida

paper paste up graffiti, a realistic image of a hand holding a marker, and a drawing of a blue scooter with an orange balloon

below: “How cool are you in the hot city?” – and more ‘messiness’ in Stevenson Alley.

Photos taken March 2025

Hosier hearts

Posted on April 2, 2025 by Mary C

Recently? Or at least in early 2025? many of the walls of Hosier Lane in Melbourne were painted with hearts.

below: Frida Kahlo too

below: A note from the Complimentary Nuts as well – “You shine like the sunlight rays on a winter day.”

below: He comes bearing his heart in his hand, a real heart at that.

below: Pink Panther

Photos taken March 2025

panda, dragon, and a foxy lady

Posted on March 30, 2025 by Mary C

Baptist Place, Melbourne
One small section of a yellow wall.

below: him: I’ve waited a long time to carry you over the threshold, her: Finally a tent of our own!

below: It doesn’t take many lines to make a compelling portrait.

below: Two simple but cute puppies selling their wares.

below: Two Marilyns

below: upper: “Without leaving my House I know the whole universe.” Panda Philosophy. lower: T-bonez rides with trp613 (aka Ty Pro), Visual Noise & Urban Ninja Squadron.

below: A little dragon creature, by stenandoli

below: The sad grey man with the very long arms and bad posture is another creation of stenandoli. In the middle is an Australian White Ibis by tweet – I wonder what it is trying to say to the cat?

below: A foxy lady, by Susi Foxy Art, aka Susi Luard.

below: Carried away by a yellow balloon…..

below: left: “T Phobia is rooted in White Supremacy” with a purple flower. middle: “Don’t be dick”, with a yellow flower. right: He seems to be holding a fish. Seems fishy?

below: Look out everyone, there’s an angry looking Blastoise pokemon character coming your way!

below: Think!

Photos taken February 2025

Santa Batman and friends

Posted on March 27, 2025 by Mary C

Batman delivers. Unfortunately, the image below is cut off but the words say, “Oh Clark, the Christmas street art is amazing!”

batman flies over a house with a big sack on his back, and drops a toy down a chimney, graffiti street art

And Christmas street art it is, a whole double door in Hosier Lane covered with Christmas themed graffiti, stickers, and paste-ups – part of the Melbourne Street Art Collective meet-up on 15th December 2024.

Hoier Lane, Melbourne, double doors, completely covered with CHristmas themed stickers, paste ups, street art,

“Have a crackin’ good Christmas” nutcracker by Lisa D. as well as a Christmas tree full of guitars. The “pin-up women” Christmas images are the work of Srta~Dolores. In the bottom right corner is a painting of a woman done on a drinks list menu; Moscow Mules, Bellinis, Brambles, and Dark and Stormys for $9 each. It is the work of Jimzina

Christmas theme graffiti

Minnie Mouse and a grandmotherly Mrs. Claus make an appearance along with another Lisa D. illustration, this time candy canes.

Christmas theme graffiti - a woman wearing candy cane earrings, and a pink sweater covered with little candy canes

below: Rock on Santa, love the cool shades. The yellow LEGO guys have “SAH” on their jackets – Street Art Hunters!

Santa Claus in sunglasses, a squirrel wearing a Santa hat, two men in yellow uniforms in Santa hats, graffiti in Hosier Lane

below: “Gnome means gnome.”, Homer Simpson as Santa Claus, and Robbo-t gets dressed up like an elf.

Homer Simpson as Santa Claus and elf on a shelf as a robot, sticker that says your bod is magic, graffiti in hosier lane

below: Batman is still delivering gifts but now he’s wearing a special Batman Christmas sweater. A very Australian koala looks on.

Christmas theme graffiti including Batman in a Christmas sweater and carrying a big bag of toys on his back, also image of snowman sledding down a snow covered hill

below: This Santa wears big pink glasses and a rainbow hat.

short little santa claus with big pink glasses and black boots, his hat is rainbow coloured

below: Bart Simpson spray paints a Christmas message while Lisa Simpson stands by.

Bart Simpson spray painting Christmas messages as graffiti, Lisa Simpson in a Santa hat.

below: The bottom of the image is cut off, and a blob of blue spray paint gets in the way, I’m afraid, but there is a pink and white cowboy boot filled with Christmas goodies by Alice Mole. Also here, SAH – Street Art Hunters, ‘playing cards’ with Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer….

below: I think that it’s Marilyn Munroe surrounded by shiny Christmas baubles.

below: Santa Sleighs

below: Even pokemon characters celebrate Christmas, as do the characters from ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’.

Christmas theme graffiti including characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas, a pokemon character, and some Santa gnomes with text

Santa gnomes with text: “Damn we’d like a kiss from a beauty like you. Come on mistletoe, work your magic” and top right: “With looks that hot, you’re melting any chance of a White Christmas”. These were brought to you by the Complimentary Nuts

below: Santa and Mrs. Claus baking in the kitchen together – maybe they’re making gingerbread men!

christmas theme graffiti, gingerbread cookies, Santa and Mrs. Claus baking in the kitchen together

below: Santa celebrates a successful night of sleigh driving and toy delivering with a well deserved day at the beach with a friendly kookaburra and a playful platypus. christmas theme graffiti, Santa on the beach with a surf board

below: “It’s okay to say No, No, No” by Katie Ruby

Santa says

Photos taken early March 2025

Beaney Lane

Posted on March 19, 2025 by Mary C

Beaney Lane is a small lane in downtown Melbourne. Once it was nondescript, now it has colour. Along one wall there is a large street art painting with a portrait of a blue lady at one end. The words “Inner Dream” are written beside her head. Her hair is covered with a net-like cap; a waterdrop shaped jewel rests between her eyes. She was painted by Mongolian born artist, Heesco.

Australian artist Matt Adnate was also involved in the making of this mural. A pair of green eyes peers out from behind a head covering.

Presumably his name is Unger

hope and trust in Port Philllip

Posted on March 17, 2025 by Mary C

This structure stands in a park in Port Phillip (St. Kilda) Melbourne.

small square building with no windows, street art on the two sides that meet,

below: An owl on the left and a lion’s head on the right – with a can of spray paint in the middle.
mural with a brown owl on the left and a lion's head on the right top,

below: The interesting part of the artwork is the other wall. Here there is a large image made of ceramic tiles. You can find many familiar St. Kilda landmarks in the picture – the pier, Luna Park, and the beach for instance. The central image is surrounded by squares decorated with various symbols, pictures, and/or words.

central image in a street art mural made of ceramis. the central image has many elements, in general it is a seaside view of St. Kilda with Luna Park, and the St. Kilda marina.

below: “TRUST” as well as “Bad Spellers of the world untie”

hand decorated ceramic tiles arranged in a mosaic as street art on a building in a park in Port Phillip Australia, including words like trust, and bad spellers of the world untie

below: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” as well as “Belonging to something, to someone, that’s what health’s about”

hand decorated ceramic tiles arranged in a mosaic as street art on a building in a park in Port Phillip Australia,

below: “Silence never won rights. They are not handed down from above, they are forced by pressure below.”

hand decorated ceramic tiles arranged in a mosaic as street art on a building in a park in Port Phillip Australia

below: “HOPE” as well as as Thoreau quote: “The world is but canvas to our imagination.” It also asks a question: “Would it be a problem if you had a peaceful mind?”.

“Welcome to our site of community reflection, respect, recovery, resistance, compassion across difference. This is a place where differences are forgotten and your heart unites with others. This mural was launched on the 4th of Dec 2009 by Frank O’Connor (mayor), Serge Thomann, Mirka Mora, Carolyn Briggs, Aunty Jacks.

Legacy mosaics – 9 years later

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Mary C

ANZAC Centenary, Legacy Street Art Project

This post updates one from January 2016 (Legacy Mosaics)

Legacy is a charity that supports widows, children, and disable dependents of Australia’s injured or deceased military veterans. Drewery Lane in downtown Melbourne runs behind Legacy House. Over the four year Centenary of ANZAC period (2014 – 2018), held workshops that allowed the local community to interact and engage with the personal and shared histories of the Legacy Family. Workshop participants created clay tiles and plaques with some connection to WW1. The plan is to attach 1000 of these mosaic pieces to the back of Legacy House. In November 2015, the first tiles were installed.

A few comparison photos (more added since January 2016, and the majority are in good condition):

2016:

white square tile with the word legacy and a picture of three people, attached to an exterior wall with numerous small clay pieces around it.

2025:

Legacy project, adding clay tiles to a wall, each with an image on it
2016
many clay pieces, a sword,an anchor, some with words, attached to a wall, part of a Legacy project for ANZAC commemoration
2025
Legacy ceramic tile mosaic project

2016:
many clay pieces, a hand, some with words, attached to a wall, part of a Legacy project for ANZAC commemoration

2025:

And a few more views from 2025 –

below: Sir Stanley Savige (1890-1954), founder of Legacy, shown in mosaic.

legacy founder portrait in mosaic added to legacy wall of ceramic tiles, to commemorate ANZAC

below: A small green helicopter joins the group.

Legacy ceramics, plus a green helicopter

below: Invader mosaics, a green tank, and a couple of hearts.

invader mosaics plus legacy ceramics in drewery lane,

wall behind Legacy House decorated with ceramic tiles that have been made by legacy participants

below: Another mosaic portrait is on the wall – this is General Sir John Monash (1865-1931). He was commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt, one of the many Australian and New Zealand groups that were involved in the Gallipoli campaign of April 1915 to January 1916.

legacy ceramics wall, along with portrait of

below: Some words: “My dad, he lived on Drewery Lane and Lt Lon. (Little Lonsdale) and loved the restaurants and shops and markets of Melbourne”

Other words: “My grandfather, Lieutenant Michael Harold Sorokiewitch, Southwick MBBS (RAMC) (1893-1957) Melbourne. Surgeon at Gallipoli and Lemnos (1915-1916) then served in military hospitals in Britain” Adele

close up of some of the ceramic pieces created for the legacy wall

a section of the legacy wall

Russell Place

Posted on March 7, 2025 by Mary C

below: A dominant feature in Russell Lane is a large yellow and blue mural by Kitt Bennett that runs along the wall of a parking structure.

part of a large mural in yellow and blue, includes a pigeon, a flower with many petals, and the wheel of a motorcycle

below: Meet “Princess” with her star wand – a mural commissioned by Melbourne City Council. She stands 24 metres tall in her sneakers. Her pink dress had faded a bit but she is as big and as tall as ever! Painted by Baby Guerilla.

Princess, a large 24 meter tall painting by baby guerilla, on a concrete wall in russell place, melbourne. a young girl in a faded pink dress and clunky shoes

below: There are paste-ups and stencils in some of the doorways – a pink flower in a purple pot along with a number of women.

graffiti, a large pink flower with many petals growing on a sturdy stem in a small purple plant pot

street art image of a young woman, standing,

street art image of a young woman with a bouquet of flowers where her hair should be

street art image of a young woman, all in blue, wearing bikini, with 2 pairs of eyes, and a spider web by her face and head

below: A Kaff-eine mural behind a fence.

below: Keeping an eye on the lane…..

square paste up of a man's eye

part of a large blue and yellow mural by kitt bennett

Photos taken March 2025

near Balaclava train station

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Mary C

below: On the corner of Nelson and Carlisle streets, near Balaclava station in St. Kilda East.

below: Black panther roaring with mouth open wide, fangs and teeth ready….

below: The railway crosses over Carlisle street at the north end of Balaclava station

below: Praying. Painted by Pawtl

below: Two women hanging out with a white rabbit and a white cat, by Deb.

below: Come Alive Melbourne

below: A rainbow lorikeet

below: Owls by the door

below: More owls

below: Continuing the bird theme – a very old and weathered stencil of a pigeon

below: Another oldie, a paste-up of many people. One person in a red and white striped shirt, holding a toddler. A girl with long hair wearing a checkered red and white dress; she’s holding something like a brown box in her hands. Beside her is a girl who is wearing a white top and a blue skirt. Who else can you see?

The next few pictures are a selection of paintings on the upper level of some of the stores on Carlisle.

below: Dana’s Patisserie

below: Many hands

below: Flowers and faces

below: “TAKE” or perhaps “TAK E” above a painting beside the walkway to Balaclava station, southbound trains.

below: On the platform, Balaclava station, “Shake was here”

below: Gradients in blue and orange cover the ground floor level of a new development beside the station – seen from the station platform.

below: Also seen from the platform, street art on the back of a building by the tracks.

below: Raise a steaming cup to the coffee culture that is strong here in Melbourne! Cheers!

Photos taken March 2025

Louden Place

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Mary C

…

below: On one side of the alley is this long mural that comes in two sections – a sleeping woman with an outstretched hand is a collaboration between Vexta and Lisa King.

… and a little bird stands on her forehead.

below: The wall of the other alley is covered by a black and white painting of kangaroos, birds, and other animals… along with some plants. A few red feathers brighten the image. It was painted by Minna Leunig, an Australian artist from Darwin.

below: It’s easy to miss because of its location, but if you go to the end of the lane and look way up, you’ll catch a glimpse of this mural by Cam Scale.

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Category Archives: Australia

Tattersall and Stevenson Lanes

Hosier hearts

panda, dragon, and a foxy lady

Santa Batman and friends

Beaney Lane

hope and trust in Port Philllip

Legacy mosaics – 9 years later

Russell Place

near Balaclava train station

Louden Place