Travel, Street Art and Melbourne Laneways

Recently, we travelled to Melbourne to our nephew, and his partner of eight years, Tims' wedding.

Melbourne is well known for its laneway culture. Of course, there are the dark and dingy lanes that we associate with big cities. However, a good proportion of laneways in Melbourne have been embraced with restaurants, cafes, bespoke shops and street art. I downloaded the walking map for Melbourne Laneways, and in between the family events we explored the streets and discovered the personality of each laneway.

During the day the lanes are filled with tourists, we included, taking photos of the changing artwork. Melbourne is a night town so if you explore the laneways too early you cross paths with cleaning crews waking the homeless while going about their routine of picking up spray cans discarded during the night, clearing rubbish and hosing the cobbles; a light smell of urine lingers.

In an earlier post, we looked at six ways to find and collect inspiration, we can add art to this list. Looking outside your preferred genre or medium can ignite new ideas. Take a moment and reflect on your reaction, do some sketching, take a few photos or put your response in words. Ask yourself: Why this reaction? Why do you find it inspiring? What would you like to try?

While standing in these laneways, I feel like a taut rope stuck in a tug a war, being pulled back and forth between seething with the memory of scrubbing graffiti off before re-painting the whole fence and my artist side which is elated with the visual stimulus. I'm intrigued by the colours, scale and the collaboration of competing personalities. The expression of the attitude taken towards current affairs reminds me of Dadaism.

Each lane seems to attract slightly different styles, skill and personalities. Melbourne has embraced street art and turned it into an asset for the city. 

The laneway map also takes you through the mall, past historical buildings and landmarks, and other urban art.