TOM HAYES
By TOM HAYES
THEY might be hard to spot, but Moe has been given a fresh lick of colour with the addition of two murals. Two murals consisting of inspirational Australian athletes are now on display at Latrobe Valley Self Storage, Moe. One displays Paralympians Dylan Alcott AO alongside Kurt Fearnley AO, with the other showing Matildas’ Sam Kerr and Moe’s Teagan Micah. Latrobe Valley Self Storage maintenance man Nigel McGrath worked alongside local artist Maddi Horrocks to not only decide what to plaster on the murals, but what vibe to go for. “We contacted Maddi because we’d seen some work that Maddi has done before and I love that street art, that spray, that sort of finish,” Mr McGrath said. “I’ve been really inspired by Kurt Fearnley and Dylan Alcott, not only for what they do but how they’ve done it and how they go about their life – they drive me.” “I just thought it was awesome to celebrate athletes that inspire everyone in their normal days, and also the younger generation,” Ms Horrocks said. Mr McGrath spends a lot of his time during the day staring at the yellow and beige of the storage lockers, but now kicks into an extra gear when he arrives to work. “I’m down here all the time, and when you’re looking at yellow sheds all day, it gets boring,” he said. “I come down here now and I’m pumped, I’m down here for probably too long now.” “I love these ones because they’re so bright, I chose really bright, happy colours so they stand out against the beige looking storage sheds,” Ms Horrocks said. Mr McGrath and Ms Horrocks worked with one another, as she presented him with some potential ideas, combining a few to find their end result. “This could be just the start of things, because the colours are incredible, Teagan Micah’s from Moe, and Sam Kerr – everyone knows Sam Kerr,” Mr McGrath said. “With Maddi’s ideas, I soon worked out pretty quickly that Maddi’s on a very similar page.” Unfortunately, with the amount of rain that showered over the Latrobe Valley in the past two months, the three-week project was doubled, taking nearly six weeks to complete. The two new additions have sparked a want for more in Mr McGrath’s eyes, with the potential for more murals to pop up in the future. He’s not only hoping to spruce up his own workspace, as he believes Moe could use some colour in other parts of town. Ms Horrocks’ talent is nothing to skim past, displaying her skills in other forms, especially during busy times of the year. “I’m planning to do more (murals), so I mainly just do murals and I also do window art for businesses around town – Christmas is crazy. I do a lot of in-home murals like kid’s rooms, holiday houses and Airbnb’s,” she said. People are able to come and see the murals in person on weekdays between 7.30am and 4.30pm at 168 Waterloo Road, Moe.
