Two years ago the Marrickville Council mobilised the Perfect Match initiative which connects home owners that have been targeted by graffiti with talented graffiti artists.
The council hopes the connection will cut down on illegal street tagging and vandalism and provide an avenue for creative expression that the whole street can enjoy.
Marrickville mayor, Mark Gardiner said, “Law and order doesn’t always work, so instead we turned to a creative way to deal with this problem.” The artwork can be seen on the streets of Lewisham, Petersham and other Inner West suburbs. The huge murals which can measure anywhere up to 14 metres are both respected by the community and are not tagged over by vandals.
The pro-public art program has been seen not to just cut down on illegal tagging but also as a way to bring the community out and about and together. Dale Chaffey believes he met more of his neighbours during the creative process which saw his home walls and café walls turned into works of art. The works of artists like Birdhat, Mulga and many more can be seen on the streets of Lewisham, Petersham, Newtown and Marrickville.
Photo by JAM Project