street art in adelaide

travel

16 Apr

Written By

when you hear the word 'adelaide', what springs to mind?

churches? yep.
barossa / <insert wine region>? obviously.
AB's? distinctly. (what's an AB, you ask? best to call it a 'late night snack' of kebab/yiros meat on a bed of hot chips, drizzled with garlic, tomato and chilli sauces. in other words, heaven and hell on a plate. if you're still intrigued, click here for a tantalising pic)
festivals? you bet. there were no fewer than five festivals happening over the course of the March long weekend. i managed to get to one of them, meaning i'll have to come back another four times to see the others (someone at SA Tourism was earning their bonus when they conjured that one up. well played.)
....street art? huh?

not unlike melbourne, adelaide's CBD is full of laneways, each with its own style of street art that has been meticulously crafted to match the particular scent of urine in the vicinity. these situations always present a bit of a photographer's curse, in that you want to take your time composing your shot and looking out for interesting details, yet your brain is telling you to 'move along please' since the combination of smells will soon render you incapable of keeping your breakfast down (let alone take a photo).

in all seriousness though, there is a thriving arts scene in adelaide across a whole lot of disciplines, and this has evidently found its way onto the streets in a very big way. much of the street art is sponsored by the city council (hence the colourful, intact pieces of work and lack of naughty words), with the obligatory old school graffiti appearing on the less prominent walls.

here are a few of my favourites (click photos to view in lightbox):

1. Blyth Street (towards Hindley Street) - looks like Mr Google hasn't found this one yet...