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The late rock star David Bowie has been paid tribute as part of a street-art project injecting colour and intrigue in Morwell’s Buckley Street.
Melbourne artist Hayden Dewar’s homage to the iconic image from the musician’s album, Aladdin Sane, forms a contemporary entrance to the Gippsland Centre Against Sexual Assault’s new Multidisciplinary Centre.
Project coordinator and local street artist Ryan Beckett, also responsible for a mural at Traralgon’s Little Prince restaurant, sourced local and Melbourne artists as well as students to create the voluntary work.
Mr Beckett said the image had “blown up” on social media, with so much mystery surrounding the artists behind it.
“Morwell has been great; the reaction from local residents and businesses. It makes us want to help Morwell out even more and clean up the area,” Mr Beckett said.
The Morwell artist said the David Bowie tribute would be a permanent fixture of the Cooinda Hill wall, estimating artist Dewar volunteered 28 hours to create the piece.
However, Beckett said he would continue working with GCASA to update the wall every three to six months and run workshops for young people about how to use an aerosol can as well as the rights and wrongs of graffiti art.
“It’s not right to deface other peoples’ property, street artists have rules,” he said.
GCASA acting chief executive Alison Fonseca said the organisation paid for artists’ paint and supplies, and hoped the work would make the area more youth friendly.
“Art can steer people, physically pull people into another part of the town that they might have otherwise forgotten,” Ms Fonseca said.
“We hope other buildings will get on board and look to have more conversations.”
