Wall transformed
A wall that has been the target of taggers for many years has been transformed into a work of art.
Two graffiti artists have spent the past six weekends transforming the side wall of Matamata Hire into a piece of street art.
The carefully designed mural depicts well- known Matamata icons such as the Firth Tower, Wairere Falls, the clock tower and Centennial Drive.
Artists Arini Pullan, 20, and Rebekah Sands, 23, were contracted by the Matamata Piako District Council as part of the My Tag My Town scheme.
‘‘We were working on our own project painting walls around the North Island, so when we heard about the council’s plan we jumped on board,’’ said Mr Pullan.
‘‘There’s been a goal in mind and we’ve been able to work together. I’m really impressed, they have given us a lot of creative freedom.’’
The My Tag My Town initiative, which was fully funded by the Ministry of Justice, included graffiti awareness classes at primary schools, graffiti art competitions and murals in Matamata, Morrinsville and Te Aroha.
The design for the mural was inspired by entries in the graffiti art competition.
The objective of the My Tag My Town project is to reduce graffiti vandalism and to encourage youth to take pride in their communities. Mr Pullan started off tagging words on buildings and said he still uses fundamentals of tagging in his graffiti art. ‘‘I still have a thing for text and typography. I used the word Matamata as a base for the design and then incorporated the other elements into the letters.’’