beads | Eyes on the Streets

More street art in Drewery Lane. The more famous art in this lane are are the mosaics and images in the Legacy Mural (a street art project to celebrate the centenary of ANZAC) . But there is other art there, and this is some of what I saw. If you have been following this blog, or just reading some previous posts, you might recognize some of the artists and their styles.

below: A wonderfully blue emu by John Murray.

mural in Drewery Lane Melbourne, a John Murray emu, bright blue hair, studded spike choker, safety pins in his face, nose stud, and a necklace

below: Temporary bird, angular, surrounded by hearts and music.

Painting by Temporary Art, surrounded by graffiti hearts and musical notes

below: Looking down the lane at a very large mural by Jaz Mishap

Drewery Lane, two people sitting in a doorway, looking down the lane, dead end, large mural by Jaz Mishap at the end wall, two Asian (Japanese?) women entwined

below: The title of the mural is “Chopsticks” such as those stuck in their hair. If you can tell where woman ends and the other begins, you are doing better than me.

large mural by Jaz Mishap at the end wall, two Asian (Japanese?) women entwined. title of mural is Chopsticks

below: More people… but very different from those in the above mural. Dancers, ballet?, with Cupid and his arrow ready to strike. It was painted by Barry Drinan.

mural painted on dark brick wall, mae and female ballet dancers with small cupid watching them. cupid has a bow and arrow

below: Luke Kasper’s version of a very abstract bird perched on a branch.

very abstract bird perched on a violet branch, white raindrops and a yellow sun also in the picture

below: Also hanging out in Drewery Lane was a very large SQUARE head with a sad face. So sad, even though it is lying in a bed of pink, red, and purple hearts,

below: Up to U! No wait, it’s Up 2 You!

below: This poor chicken (riding on the back of a turtle) has met an unlucky fate. This is the surviving portion of a much larger mural painted by Putos, Siege, and tanea many years ago (pre-2013).

part of a larger mural, snake wrapped around a chicken that is sitting on the back of a turtle, Snake with open mouth and long red tongue

below: “Woman Life Freedom” by, presumably, Asal Nili. At the bottom of the orange poster is a hastag, Nowruz, which is the Persian New Year.

below: There were many of these little beaded diamonds, small and intricate. Here a cow stands on two framed pictures.

Diamond shaped graffiti piece, made with beads, includes a cow

below: This photo provides a few clues as to the size of the beaded diamonds. I think that there is a ladybug in the center of this one.

below: A green mantra ray is the focus of this one.

Diamond shaped graffiti piece, made with beads, includes a green manta ray in the center

below: And last, seaweed growing on the ocean floor.

Diamond shaped graffiti piece, made with beads, includes a yellow and orange seaweed

Photos taken March 2025

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