Displacement

This mural, titled “Displacement”, is on the corner of Jackson and Fitzroy St. in St. Kilda, opposite the Gatwick, a privately run rooming house that is the last bastion of hope for many of Melbourne’s homeless.

The forgotten folk of Melbourne end up here. They use this corner to beg for change and bum cigarettes.  This painting deals with depression. In a popular culture of sport, alcohol abuse and violence people don’t often speak about depression despite the fact that we probably all know someone who has taken their own life or thrown it away with drugs or risk taking behaviour. It’s also about displacement: graffiti can be a way of claiming ownership feeling a sense of belonging in a city that turns its back on those that don’t have capital.