Painting the town all the colours

SHOPFRONTS within the CBD have been transformed with a series of art installations cropping up along Sturt Street and Bridge Mall.

The City of Ballarat has commissioned local artists to showcase their skills across six art installations in collaboration with Ballarat Evolve.

Spencer Harrison is one of the creatives whose work is on display for passers-by to see, with bright primary colours and looping video screens giving new life to shopfront at 324 Sturt Street.

He said his contribution to the project is the culmination of his experiences in lockdown, and a commentary on the digital obsession of modern life.

“The work is about our relationship to the screen and how we’ve become addicted to looping videos on Tik Tok and Instagram.

“I kind of wanted to create a really colourful, vibrant portal that would be drawing people in from across the street and hopefully into the city centre of Ballarat,” he said.

The sites will remain active for up to two months, and each installation offers an internet address which will lead to a web portfolio on the artist.

Other creatives featured include Marce King at 131 Sturt Street, Antayjo Art at 10 Bridge Mall and Arthur Creative at 26 Bridge Mall.

With the art adorning empty shopfronts, City of Ballarat mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said he’d like to see more businesses adding some creativity to their exteriors.

“We’ve got an awesome art community here and whether it’s a shopfront that’s currently closed or a shopfront that’s very active, this is a way that Ballarat businesses can actually be different.”

“This is something that we really did back in the 1950s and 1960s in a massive way. Shopfronts mattered. I think this is a sign of things that should be the new norm.”

The project was funded with $30,000 from the State Government as part of their COVID safe Outdoor Activation Fund 2021.

Member for Wendouree, Juliana Addison, said the installations pulled double duty in putting the buildings to further use and promoting the community’s arts and business cultures.

“The Victorian government is very supportive of our creative industries and supporting artists such as Spencer,” she said.

“We know that they’ve been hit really hard during COVID so to be able to have six pieces of work on display across Ballarat not only is great for us as a community, it’s also a great way to support local artists.”