Brunswick

Brunswick is one of the suburbs of Melbourne; it is north of the Central Business District.

below: One of the murals painted on the side of an older building on Sydney Road. This is the Retreat Hotel and the mural was painted by Buff Diss.

cyclist cycling past a street art mural on the side of an old two storey building on Sydney Road in Brunswick

below: Treaty” and “Teach Black history” JESWRI (aka Jesse Wright) on the side of another older building on Sydney Road. There is a Korean BBQ restaurant on the lower level although most of the building looks a bit decrepit.

street art mural on the side of an old two storey building on Sydney Road in Brunswick

below: A series of paintings in shades of gray with a large pointy mountain in the back.

street art mural on the side of an old two storey building on Sydney Road in Brunswick

below: “Tram Kangaroo” by Mike Maka. One very large kangaroo hops along beside an old abandoned Melbourne tram (route 19, which runs along Sydney Road) in this dystopian future scene.

street art mural on the side of an old two storey building on Sydney Road in Brunswick

below: A closer look …

part of a street art mural on the side of an old two storey building on Sydney Road in Brunswick, showing Melbourne tram 19 on an overgrown street

below: Not such an old building this time.. on the side of the Savers store is a mural by Danielle Weber. A pair of hands is trying to pull back the gray wall to reveal a tropical scene hiding behind it.

street art mural on the side of an old two storey building on Sydney Road in Brunswick

below: Zatira (aka Katherine Gailer). has used a palette of vivid colours in this mural dedicated to Teresa Bruno, a well known local chef and owner of Zia Teresa Restaurant (Italian).

throw up type street art in Brunswock, abstract shapes and colours,

below: Protest type poster where the mayor is shielded from the people by layers of armed police. People are too mesmerized by what is on their screens to care.

anti police corruption poster showing mayor, and government, shielded from the public by many layers of police and armed police

below: Uprooted police cars.

police cars in a stack, one upside down, with a tree growing through them, one is policia, another police, and the third is in russian.

below: “The colony will fail”.

poster with text, the colony will fail

Photos taken February 2025

AC/DC Lane

(and Duckboard Place)

AC/DC Lane was named for the Rock band of the same name. It has been a place for street art for many years, one of the first locations in central Melbourne.

below: Dominating the corner of the lane is Mike Makatron’s 3D sculpture of AC/DC band member, Bon Scott bursting through the wall.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne

below: Melbourne in 3D

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, The word Melbourne in gold letters, beside a drawing of a ballerina

below: In the bottom corner, RIP Malcolm Young, another member of AC/DC. The text in the word bubble is “C’mon Saint Peter, how many bloody times you gonna make me play Hell’s Bells before you let me through the gates mate?”

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, portraits of musicians at the end of the alley

below: Fintan Magee’s painting of a man carrying a tree towers over the end of the alley.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, mural by Fintan Magee of a man carrying a tree,

below: Taking selfies with Malcolm Young.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, two men taking selfies in front of musician portrait with devil horns and angel wings

below: Steen Jones painted this tall Melbourne mural with the red roses.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, woman with back to camera, taking picture of tall Melbourne mural with red roses by Steen Jones, also 2 motorcycles in the picture

below: Andy Warhol with paint splatters

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, portrait of Andy Warhol with paint splatters

below: A printed discourse on reality that starts with: “Realities can be controlled through the altered perception of real monocultrial [sic] relationships. This undeniable truth is self-evident through seeing mind’s eye. You will never be real, and in turn, that verifies your existence.” Think of it what you want.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, typed text, with scribbles in black and yellow on top

below: A boy, a girl, and a dog going for a walk, by VKM,

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, stencil of two kids walking a dog,

below: Three more posters, two female and one male, all in vibrant colours. On the left is a purple haired, and very sad, woman by Vasso. Next to her is the green haired smoker by YAYA and on the right is an interesting woman with great red sunglasses but I have no idea who created that picture.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, 3 paste ups, all of heads, two female, one male,

below: Love is love, and many others including a little Robbo-t

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, stickers and paste ups includng a robbo-t, and love is love words,

below: Rock on! Elvis Emu (by John Murray) and the red dino. What you can’t tell from this picture, is that the emu is just over 6 feet tall (i.e. a little taller than the average man). There are now many wonderful emus all over Melbourne!

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne including an emu dressed like Elvis Presley with rhinestone covered white jacket and big sunglasses

below: Neftnik’s blue woman reading an orange book while smoking her pipe.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, artwork of a woman with blue hands and face, wearing black and white striped stockings, and a black and white jacket, holding an orange book while smoking a pipe

below: A blue girl in a flowery dress and a blue bunny rabbit, more blueness from Neftnik.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, paste ups, blue bunny, and little girl in blue with a floral dress on, by Neftnik

below: Christmas street art! Lots of Santa Clauses and even a reindeer or two.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, Christmas theme street art, Santa Claus, snowflakes, reindeer,

below: … and the festive season continues… with Batman delivering presents down chimneys. This is one of many places in Melbourne that were “decorated” for Christmas, see “A Christmas collection of friends” for more pictures.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, Christmas theme street art, Santa Claus, snowflakes, reindeer, batman, tweet cat with balloons,

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, stickers and paste ups, Christmas theme

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne

below: Salvador Dali looking a little surreal beside another blue person by Neftnik.

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne

below: Carmadymnd’s little diamond shaped mosaic

street art, small piece, diamond shaped made with mosaic tiles and glass beads,

below: by French artist, Vale,

stencil of a blue eyed child in helmet and vest, spray paint cans on vest, peace symbol on sleeve of t shirt,

below: She leap frogs over, by JAH

street art in AC DC Lane< street art in AC DC Lane

below: “You don’t deserve all the bad things you say to yourself” beside a blue eyed woman by Jover. Muttley snickers in the bottom corner.

You don't deserve all the bad things you say to yourself text on a sticker, also a paste up by Jover of woman's face, with blue eyes,

below: Michael Caine looks a little bored by it all.

portrait of Michael Caine, black and white photo, on poster, as a paste up in AC DC lane.

below: Lumpkin definition: A blundering fool; A clumsy and often stupid person.

urban art in AC DC lane in Melbourne, cutout letters form the word lumpkin

below: Alice falls. The Queen of Hearts along with the two of clubs and other cards fall with her.

urban art in AC DC lane in Melbourne, Alice in Wonderland is falling, along with some playing cards like the queen of hearts, 2 of clubs.  Alice is wearing blue dress with white apron, red shoes,

below: “I yam what I yam,” I’m Popeye the sailor man. It looks like he’s still eating his spinach.

urban art in AC DC lane in Melbourne, popeye the sailor man cartoon character

below: Asian woman with a fan

urban art in AC DC lane in Melbourne, Asian looking woman with a fan

below: Keep calm and plant a tree.

urban art in AC DC lane in Melbourne, sticker that says keep calm and plant a tree

below: “Lets laugh while we still can” by Loui Jover

urban art in AC DC lane in Melbourne, with text that says Lets laugh while we still can, written on woman's face,  by Jover

below: A very strange looking slightly abstract man, also by Jover

urban art in AC DC lane in Melbourne, portrait of a man, in profile, by Jover, attempt at cubism, or abstract of one sort or another

below: More contributions to the alley from Vasso and Jover

street art in ACDC lane, central Melbourne, stickers and paste ups,

below: “Always learn” along with “We don’t need more we need to be more”.

urban art in AC DC lane in Melbourne, paste up by Jover of woman's head but instead of facial features, has text that says we don't need more, we need to be more.   another sticker that says always learn

below: Rocket man, literally, on guitar

urban art in AC DC lane in Melbourne, headless (white paint sprayed over head) guitar player with big red boots that are also flaming rockets, stencil on brick wall

Photos taken February 2025

A Christmas collection of friends

The previous post, Covering a yellow door, showcased some slaps seen in Baptist Place, a lane in Melbourne. They were created by a variety of artists from a number of different countries. You will find that many of the same artists appear in this post mostly because this post features a different section of Baptist Place. Here the graffiti is Christmas themed (more or less).

below: Holiday sharing – a little Wall Lilo figure is giving a candy to the long nosed elf (by liAXrt). A Stoeyes drawn woman in fur lined blue hat and matching mitts has a red box with wise words written on it – “le chocolat fait rétrécir les jeans” (chocolate makes jeans shrink).

small Christmas themed paste ups on a yellow wall in Melbourne, Baptist Place, a koala in a red hat, a long nosed elf accepting a candy from a wall lilo figure, and a woman wearing fur cuffed mitts

many small Christmas themed paste ups on a yellow wall in Melbourne, Baptist Place,

below: This koala is ready for a Christmas party with his festive red hat and a pair of balloons. Another little Wall Lilo figure is dancing on the head of a very stern looking fellow (by Atelier Waladou). Maybe this will put him in the Christmas spirit?

small Christmas themed paste ups on a yellow wall in Melbourne, Baptist Place, a koala wearing a red hat and holding 2 blue balloons, a figure by atelier waladou,

below: Father Christmas, or Jolly Old St. Nick, in a long blue robe, by liAXrt as well as more candies! As to why Father Christmas carries a staff with a skull on it, anyone have any ideas?

small Christmas themed paste ups on a yellow wall in Melbourne, Baptist Place, Father Christmas with long white hair and beard, in a blue floor length robe, holding a staff with a skull on it, also a wall lilo figure holding a candy wrapped in blue wrapper

below: A bird by Darwinagain in red, white, and blue, atop a happy Christmas tree. Dreaming pleasant dreams beside the tree are two sleeping girls – perhaps dreams of sugar plum fairies or of a red-nosed reindeer leading a sled through the winter sky. (Girls are by Belaets)

small Christmas themed paste ups on a yellow wall in Melbourne, Baptist Place, a smiling green Christmas tree, with a red, white and blue bird on top, two sleeping girls by balaets, one with wrapped gifts on her head, sleeping and dreaming, bird has Christmas ornament in its mouth

below: A kangaroo with a red hat also wants to join the party.

small Christmas themed paste ups on a yellow wall in Melbourne, Baptist Place, a kangaroo with a red hat

below: A cute little yellow creature with a tall blue and white striped hat riding bareback on a brown animal with antlers (by Nevoul Art)

small Christmas themed paste ups on a yellow wall in Melbourne, Baptist Place, a silly little yellow character wearing a tall blue and white striped hat and sitting on the back of a brown animal with yellow antlers

below: That’s quite a big bubble that she’s blowing!

small Christmas themed paste ups on a yellow wall in Melbourne, Baptist Place,  a woman in profile by stoeyes, with long blue hair and blowing a bubble gum bubble, ith cursive words, je veux mon gift, also a wall lilo figure

below: Two little elf feet poke out from under the tree (is it a tree? or an elf in a costume?). This furry squirrel not has has a festive red Santa hat and a lot of balloons, but he’s also wearing the cutest little Christmas booties! (by Tweet). And there’s the Grinch too!

christmas themed graffiti, squirrel by tweet streetart wearing a red hat and red boots with holly on them, carrying a bunch of balloons, also the grinch wearing a Santa hat,

below: Merry Pokemon Christmas! .. and a skull, for some reason, by Loui Jover.

graffiti on a yellow wall, a blue pokeman creature with blue cap with white pompom and a blue scarf, also a black and white drawing of a skull by Loui Jover

below: A blue butterfly tattoo, also by Loui Jover

small paste up on a yellow wall in an alley, black and white drawing of a woman's back, long hair, blue butterfly tattoo on one shoulder

Photos taken February 2025

Love’s the only engine of survival

Or at least that’s what written on a wall in Tampa Florida that was painted by a number of artists during Tampa Bay Fresh Fest in early 2020. It’s a Leonard Cohen quote.

words painted on a wall in the corner of a green mural that says love's the only engine of survival
mural, green background with water drops, black silhouette of a frog and a gecko climbing the wall

below: Greetings! Peace. A very friendly doorman,  by Luisa Padró

mural around a double door, glass, of a large man bending over the top of the door, he is giving peace symbol with two fingers

below: The wall is on Franklin Street.

wall decorated with five murals by street artists on Franklin St in Tampa

below: A snake and a mama kangaroo with a joey in her pocket, the merging of two disparate animal species, by Jerry Cahill

mural by Jerry Cahill of an animal with the front of a mother kangaroo with a joey in her pocket, but the tail becomes a serpent with a head at the end

below: She’s got quite the hairdo. Are the pirates coming for her? Or is she just on the side observing the boatload of skull-like figures? This was a collaboration between Artcapco (aka Juan Pablo & Vanessa Parra and Ashley Cantero

mural of a woman with pink hair, up do, with a pirate ship in the background where the pirates are skulls

below: A bear, an arrow, some squares and rectangles, a mixed composition by noirsone

a mural with a brown bear, a white arrow that looks like a cursor on a computer screen

Photos taken April 2022

The Leonard Cohen quote comes from the lyrics of a song, “The Future”. There are many words in the song and you can find them online if you are interested. It’s a rather dark song. This is the stanza that the quote comes from:

“You don’t know me from the wind
You never will, you never did
I’m the little Jew
Who wrote the Bible
I’ve seen the nations rise and fall
I’ve heard their stories, heard them all
But love’s the only engine
Of survival”