New mural paints Cuba St beautiful
A central Wellington wall frequently targeted by vandals has had a makeover in the form of an environmentally minded mural.
The large-scale project, which was completed by graphic artists Kelly Spencer and Sean Duffell and artist Stephen Templer in just one day, illustrates the vital role bees play in sustaining the planet’s ecosystem.
‘‘Bees pollinate a third of everything we eat so the message ‘Hold Tight’ is asking the bee population to bare with us while we as humans work to realign ourselves with the world and repair the ongoing damages done,’’ Spencer explains.
‘‘The wall has ivy growing upwards and bees are one of the few species who can feed off ivy plants.’’
Wellington City Council submitted the design idea to the Paint New Zealand Beautiful initiative run by Keep New Zealand Beautiful, which provides resources to make communities beautiful through the painting of murals and eradication of graffiti.
‘‘This wall has been a target for a long time,’’ graffiti programme adviser Hine Sullivan says. ‘‘The owner of the building, Ian Utting, has tried to keep the wall clean, but it has always been a challenge.’’
Since being completed, the new mural has been tagged three times, but fortunately graffiti-guard allowed them to be completely removed quickly each time.
Sullivan says in the four years she had been in her role, all of the murals commissioned by the council had received only positive feedback and she hoped the latest one would be no different.
‘‘We engage and promote local artists as they are known in the culture of graffiti and street art and there is honour and respect for their work. Even those doing graffiti illegally and not in a vibrant manner seem to respect these murals.’’
Templer says he is happy to have been involved in ‘‘planting a visual garden, helping to pollinate the imagination of the city with this beautiful, environmentally themed work’’.
Only two projects were funded by the Paint New Zealand Beautiful programme this year, with the other in rural Southland.
The programme works in collaboration with artists to inspire, imagine and engage projects that fuse street art with nature, Keep New Zealand Beautiful chief executive officer Heather Saunderson says.