Aborigine Child - Sydney, NSW
S 33° 53.340 E 151° 12.030
56H E 333593 N 6248694
A stunning mural painted by Australian artist Guido Van Helten, a portrait of an Aborigine child, covers the front of a workshop in Cleveland St, Sydney.
Waymark Code: WMP95B
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Date Posted: 07/22/2015
Views: 14
This large portrait covers the wall frontage of a workshop in Cleveland Street, in the Redfern suburb of Sydney. The over-sized face of an Aboriginal child comes to life in a massive, monochromatic portrait. Van Helten has a style that brings to mind old photos from an era long before the invention of camera phones or selfies. This mural was painted from images from the archives of the Aboriginal Legal Service, first started in a shopfront in Redfern in 1970 providing free legal advice and services to Indigenous Australians.
About the Artist:
The 28-year-old artist, Guido Van Helten, grew up in Melbourne, Australia’s graffiti capital, tagging trains with his friends. Guido was arrested five times in Australia for his graffiti and the time and money involved seemed like a waste. He went to university in Brisbane, Australia, where he studied visual art and experimented with watercolours. But his artwork was not receiving the same level of satisfaction he got when he was working on a great mural and unconventional, outdoor canvases.
“There’s a drive with graffiti that’s hard to replicate anywhere else,” Guido says. “What inspired me was that people were going to see it. It’s out on the street, you see it immediately; it’s going to be judged immediately.”....adapted from The Reykjavik Grapevine website.
Now he paints huge and stunning portrait murals. He is no longer just a graffiti artist. Guido van Helten is now a contemporary street artist practicing in the medium of large-scale, site-specific mural works anywhere in the world. The gigantic portraits are placed on buildings, often with white backgrounds, where they keep watch over the town surrounding them.
Check this website (
visit link) for progress photos of this mural.