Stencil art

is really popular in Melbn. I’ve noticed it and taken photos of some of the more interesting ones before. Today, my friend Be (yes, that’s her name) took me to see the stencil wall in Carlton (just north of Melbourne CBD). It’s amazing. From the sidewalk to about 2m up the side of the wall, and for maybe 10 or 12 metres along the wall, it’s covered in stencil art. There are all different kinds, from political to funny to beautiful to bizarre, some of them display some really amazing talent.

We spent several minutes there, looking at the current batch of stencils. I captured closeups of a bunch of my favourites in my camera, and grabbed a overall shot. It’s in an alley, so I had to piece this together from a bunch of individual pictures. Click on the image for a much bigger view (916k)

Be tells me there are two main groups who do this art, the “Ha ha” group and the “Meek” group. From what I can tell, there are about 6 styles happening on the wall, maybe there aren’t that many artists, or there’s a kind of apprentice or training system going on. There are a few I recognise from other parts of the city. For example, you can see a pink girl sitting cross-legged at the far left of the montage, and I’ve seen her just up the street from me at a construction site.