{"id":7409,"date":"2016-08-14T07:04:09","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T06:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=7409"},"modified":"2016-08-14T07:04:09","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T06:04:09","slug":"art-on-the-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/australia\/art-on-the-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"Art on the streets"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_7410\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7410\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7410\" src=\"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/b-child.jpg\" alt=\"This was the first mural I saw - a striking portrait of an indigenous child \" width=\"300\" height=\"276\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7410\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This was the first mural I saw &#8211; a striking portrait of an indigenous child<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Graffiti isn\u2019t what it used to be \u2013 well not in my old home town at least.<\/p>\n<p>I was totally entranced last week revisiting the streets and alleys I knew when I was a teenager, and seeing how they have been transformed into an amazing outdoor art gallery.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of years ago, someone came up with this great idea for dealing with the graffiti that was costing the council tens of thousands of dollars a year to clean up.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than arrest the graffiti artists, they encouraged them\u2026 with unexpected results.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The council funded the First Coat Festival \u2013 which gave graffiti artists the chance to create giant murals on some of the city\u2019s walls. Three such festivals have now been held, and they have given the city a remarkable gift.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7414\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7414\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7414 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/b-old.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"259\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7414\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">What used to look like this&#8230;..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7415\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7415\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7415\" src=\"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/b-birds.jpg\" alt=\"...now looks like this. So much nicer.\" width=\"500\" height=\"232\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7415\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8230;now looks like this. So much nicer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Some of the art work is absolutely beautiful\u2026 and the styles are so varied, everyone can find something to suit their personal taste. Toowoomba is now becoming famous for this art, and it\u2019s even bringing in a few tourists.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7416\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7416\" style=\"width: 338px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7416\" src=\"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/b-favourite.jpg\" alt=\"This is a personal favourite - the detail is amazing.\" width=\"338\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7416\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is a personal favourite &#8211; the detail is amazing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There is a code among street artists \u2013 no artist is going to deface such a really good work done by someone else. So these murals remain untouched.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7417\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7417\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7417\" src=\"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/b-tagged.jpg\" alt=\"This was the only place I saw a mural defaced - and even then, it was just a tiny bit of blue paint in the corner- barely noticeable.\" width=\"500\" height=\"277\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7417\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This was the only place I saw a mural defaced &#8211; and even then, it was just a tiny bit of blue paint in the corner- barely noticeable.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Some of the walls chosen were in the less salubrious parts of the inner city \u2013 in laneways which were not good places to be.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7425\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7425\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7425 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/b-purple.jpg\" alt=\"I found these smiling places down what used to be a very uninviting laneway \" width=\"500\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7425\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I found these smiling places down what used to be a very uninviting laneway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The unexpected bonus of the artworks is that those laneways have been given a new lease of life. Coffee shops have opened to serve the people coming to look at the art work, and those lanes are becoming trendy meeting places.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7420\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7420\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7420 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/b-car-park.jpg\" alt=\"Adding a classical touch to a car park.\" width=\"500\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7420\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adding s classical touch to a car park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>What a fabulous idea this was \u2013 and long may it continue. Three are still a lot of bare brick walls out there that could benefit from a bit of paint.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7421\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7421\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7421\" src=\"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/b-bowie.jpg\" alt=\"Another favourite - brightens up an inner city intersection\" width=\"500\" height=\"262\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7421\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another favourite &#8211; brightens up an inner city intersection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Graffiti isn\u2019t what it used to be \u2013 well not in my old home town at least. I was totally entranced last week revisiting the streets and alleys I knew when I&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia","category-my-travels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}