Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane is Melbourne’s most famous street art location. 

In years gone past it deserved this reputation, unfortunately now it does not. 

Now it is dirty and untidy and any artists work that is created there is unlikely to last very long at all, the blatant disregard by taggers for valuable art created by artists is disheartening, it is little wonder artists do not want to use their materials and time to paint here as much any more.

Melbourne City Council’s decision some time ago to remove the “legal” painting status from a number of other laneways in Melbourne, leaving Hosier Lane as the only legal laneway in the CBD has certainly contributed to this messiness. Hosier Lane is now more a laneway of tags than anything else.

Many artists feel unsafe in the laneway now and many will not go there alone to paint. There has been abuse and assaults in the laneway, I myself have been abused and chased out of the laneway a couple of times, I know of a number of artists who have been abused and assaulted. There is rarely any police or council presence in the laneway, I am a frequent visitor and have never seen any, ever. My advice is to visit during busy times when there are larger number of people around.

Matt Adnate’s “Marlu” and a couple of other artworks that are “up high” are a saving grace as is Melbourne’s most important mural, the emotional tribute to women murdered in Australia, “Stop Killing Women” by Sherele Moody that has lasted over a year (with a few repair jobs).

We have recently seen some of our best graffiti writers return to Hosier, like Dvate, Bailer, Ling, Sofles and others, but even their brilliant graffiti writing does not last very long.

The Melbourne Street Art Collective regularly run events in Hosier Lane, such as “Christmas in Hosier” and “Halloween in Hosier” where a dedicated group of artists try to bring colour and life back to the laneway with their murals, stencils and paste-ups, but as with most art in the lane these efforts are quickly subsumed by the tagging and crappy painting.

Over the last couple of years the lane seems perpetually filled with badly painted hearts and music notes, these often seem to be an attempt to claim other artists work by painting them around smaller and larger works. It is such a shame that there is no attempt by the Melbourne City Council to stop this destructiveness.

So, while Hosier Lane is still busy and vibrant with tourists it is such a shame that people are visiting our most famous street art location and finding it in it’s current state. We can only hope that the Melbourne City Council makes some effort to restore Hosier Lane to it’s former glory.