Street art points to diverse future for city
Invercargill will soon be home to one of the tallest street art murals in the country, depicting an image of a child who represents cultural diversity in the south.
The mural is of 21⁄2-year-old Mia Judson, whose Southland parents are of Japanese and Filipino descent.
Artist Deow, or Danny Owen, is friends with Mia’s parents and came up with the idea to showcase diversity.
‘‘The whole concept is around the changing face of Invercargill and how the city continues to diversify. Mia is super cute and full of beans so she was the ideal model,’’ Deow said.
The changing diversity, culture and city landscape of Invercargill were the inspiration for the piece, he added.
The mural, which will be completed on Sunday, sits on the south side of the Invercargill Licensing Trust’s Kelvin Hotel and will be revealed to the public in January.
The portrait will span about eight storeys, and so far more than 250 cans of spray paint have been used.
Deow is no stranger to large street art projects, helping to host the South Sea Spray event in Riverton and completing a 300-square-metre mural in Dunedin.
Deow was quite nervous to be painting at such a height. However, having his neighbour work in the scaffolding crew was enough to alleviate those fears.
Deow started working on the piece about a week ago and had been working long days to get it ready. ‘‘It’s been cool to paint something so big and beautiful and bold . . . Mia’s going to buzz out when she sees it.’’
Invercargill Licensing Trust chief executive Chris Ramsay said ‘‘our board saw this as a chance to add to the vibrancy of our city, particularly at a time when the CBD is going to be undergoing such significant change’’.
‘‘He’s [Deow] an extremely talented guy who can help us reach the vision we have.’’
Ramsay said the changing city scape had given the trust the chance to get behind the cultural shift in the city.
Large-scale street art projects were something the trust was keen to support and having the blank canvas of the hotel was the perfect opportunity.