How public art is bringing life to new Australian communities

A 22-metre-long mural of Australian sporting legend Lleyton Hewitt delivers a serve of verve to a tennis hit-up wall in a new residential community in Melbourne’s north-west, while in Sydney’s Barangaroo South, 11 shimmering eagle rays float as if on the tide in an evocative overhead artwork. 

A stone sculpture of two swimmers perch by the ocean at another housing development at Shell Cove on the NSW South Coast, a massive Indigenous artwork stretches across the ceiling at Melbourne’s Burwood Brickworks and vivid hues of a specially commissioned artwork flow around the base of a 16-level apartment building to be constructed on Sydney’s lower north shore.

Suddenly, art is everywhere in a huge number of new home developments – and performing, say the experts, a critical role.

At Stockland, art is considered a vital ingredient. For example, its new residential community, Stockland Grandview in Melbourne’s Truganina, includes the Hewitt heroism by artist Paink. “Our strategy is to create communities, and public art can really help with that,” says the head of placemaking & design, Sophie Pickett-Heaps.

“It can spark conversations between residents, it can make connections, it can add to the whole level of vibrancy, and it creates memories. We believe we can serve our communities better by providing good, accessible public art and bring stories to places which really adds to the quality of the lives of the people living there.”

That’s a sentiment echoed by Emily Wood, executive general manager of development at Frasers Property, well known for the distinctive artwork scattered all around its award-winning One Central Park in Sydney’s Chippendale, in Burwood, where the installation provides an opportunity for people to learn about the area’s Aboriginal heritage, and now coming to its Ed.Square in Sydney’s south-west. 

One of the most eye-catching pieces is Greetings, the grand artwork by renowned designer James Dive in collaboration with Scoundrel Projects, which occupies the vast exterior wall of the main entry to the adjoining retail and entertainment complex. 

“We have a bit of a bespoke approach to creating and installing art in our neighbourhoods,” says Wood. “Some of it is permanent; some is installed for just, say, a month. But we always like it to be very specific to its location and by local artists when it’s possible.

“We know art plays a big role and we like to involve a local community as much as we can in choosing the art to make sure it creates a real local connection and is as meaningful as possible. It can add a distinctiveness to a community and has a strong place-making element so that people feel attached and have a sense of belonging.”

Plenty of academic studies find that art isn’t only for art’s sake, too. Principal fellow at the University of Melbourne and director of her own art consultancy, Jo Caust, has found that art really does add an extra gloss to life.

In the past, there used to be unused spaces or blank walls in every kind of housing or apartment development; now, it’s much more likely that they’ll bear brightly coloured murals or be open to artistic activities.

“You can always end up with some fairly soulless environments, but now developers are embracing art in, and around, their buildings, and it creates a much more interesting atmosphere,” she says. “It improves the physical and sparks the imagination and memory, and can make us feel so much more at home.”

At art consultancy Art Pharmacy, founder Emilya Colliver says the homes are the butter sandwich, but the art provides the jam that makes everything so much more interesting and appealing. “It really gives that pop of extra taste and colour and fun,” she says. 

“As well, it can make people feel safer, seeing their own realities reflected back. In Parramatta, for instance, where 11 per cent of the population is Indian, we look at installing artworks that reflect that local demographic, which really improves people’s emotional wellbeing.”

Diversity is also the theme of the artwork around developer TWT’s latest project, The Collective at Crows Nest, which will have its facade wrapped in a 22-metre by 3.6-metre artwork by globally renowned artist Mel O’Callaghan called Vertical Flow.

“The homes are built of bricks and mortar but the art, in primary colours, which creates other colours where they meet in the changing light, creates meaningful experiences for the community and their homes,” said Ariel Zheng, head of TWT arts initiatives. “We’re a migrant community and this art promotes diversity.”

Meanwhile, at Barangaroo, the fabulous artwork Mermer Waiskeder: Stories of the Moving Tide, curated by Nina Miall, stops many locals and visitors alike in their tracks. That’s immensely pleasing to Stuart Mendel, executive director of development NSW of Lendlease, which created the apartments and commercial towers in the precinct. 

“As developers of city-shaping precincts, and in partnership with government, we believe that integrating artwork is an important aspect of delivering meaningful places that add to the cultural, aesthetic and economic value of our cities,” he says. 

“By incorporating artistic expression into the built environment, the aim is to create more inviting, enjoyable and inclusive spaces that spark conversation and connection while paying homage to the people and places that were there before.”