Uplift

Audio description

Text description

Uplift
by Noni Cragg, 2023
93 Lennox Street, Newtown

Inner West Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of these lands, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

This mural is painted on the long sidewall of a house in Newtown. The left half of the house is a rectangle with three sets of horizontal windows set beneath the roofline. The right side of the house rises to a peak in the middle and has three slim vertical windows equally spaced across it. It is 25 metres wide and 3 metres high except where the roof peaks an extra 3 metres. The entire wall is painted a rich deep ochre and has various native birds and plants across its surface.

A row of dark brown bricks runs along the bottom of the mural. Three slim trees and a telegraph pole on the pavement in front of the wall slightly obscure the painting.

In the far left corner is a large banksia, covered with flecks of green, yellow, white, and edged with a row of white dots. Eleven short, spiky green leaves with yellow veins jut out from around the flower. Next, a dark brown tree trunk runs from the bottom to the top of the mural. A small cluster of bright pink leaves is growing from the base. To the right of the trunk is a black, white and grey heron who is looking to the right and standing on one leg. He reaches from the ground to half way up the mural. A row of white flannel flowers comes next. They are of different heights and appear to dance along the wall. Another banksia is between two of the vertical windows and from its base run long stout branches covered with bright yellow wattle flowers and dark glossy green leaves. Two branches run to the left, going on a gentle diagonal up to the roof, and another runs to the right ending almost at the top of the wall. On a left-hand branch sits a large and handsome bird, facing us but looking to the left. His head, which almost reaches the top of the mural, is brown and black, his chest speckled yellow, white and black and his long tail which reaches the ground is bright yellow.

A smaller black and white bird sits on the branch that runs to the right. Below and to his left is another row of dancing flannel flowers. Filling the right-hand corner is a large yellow-flecked banksia to match the one in the far-left corner.

The birds and plants are painted cleanly and boldly in bright clear colours that stand out clearly on the dark red background.

This artwork responds to the tragic Probert Street boarding house fire in March 2022. The flora symbolises healing and recovery.

This artwork was commissioned by Inner West Council through Perfect Match, a program matching artists with community to collaboratively produce site specific street art.

Audio description written by Vision Australia, and voiced by Nas Campanella.