Workspace

Audio description

Text description

Workspace
by Fintan Magee, 2020
1 Smidmore Street, Marrickville

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

This mural is 100 metres wide, by 50 metres high and is painted on the brown brick exterior of the Marrickville Metro shopping center. It's painted in mostly brown and dark red earthy tones. It features portraits of Wendy Sharpe and Rachel Lafferty, two prolifically talented local creatives working amidst the Marrickville light industrial spaces.

The left hand side begins with an illuminated sign fixed to the wall. It has the names and logos of the many shops inside the mall. Then, moving left along Smidmore Street, is a large head and shoulders portrait of a woman. She is painted in Wendy Sharpe's loose and imaginative style.
Obscured by a tall gumtree planted very close to the wall are two more portraits of women in Wendy Sharpe's gestural style. One is sitting with their back turned to the street, while the other faces us, engrossed in a book on her lap.

Then, in a much more detailed, realistic painting style is a portrait of Wendy Sharpe at work in her studio. She looks out at the street, standing casually with a thin paintbrush in one hand. The other hand rests on a stack of papers, journals and sketches. She wears a loose blue singlet top underneath a dark pink cardigan, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She has an apron tied around her waist, which looks like a mottled painting drop sheet. It extends to the bottom of the mural and the colours match her dark pink cardigan. Behind her is her studio, featuring a pot with paintbrushes, ceramic bowls, books, bottles and other art supplies strewn in a chaotic mishmash on a bench.

This large mural continues past a wide commercial loading dock which is cut into in the building. In this section, welder Rachel Lafferty sits behind a large metal sphere object. Rachel wears a leather apron, thick leather gloves, and safety earmuffs as she applies an angle grinder to the metal object.

A flash of sparks splay out towards the viewer in bright yellow and gold.  To the right of Rachael at work, the mural continues to show another more formal portrait of Rachael. She stands still in her apron, looking up at the sky. Her hands, still in the welding gloves, are by her side. Behind her is a close up view of a workbench filled with metalwork tools, clamps and blades. The wall finishes again with a large illuminated sign of the shops available in the Marrickville metro, and a square entryway with steps leading to the centre.

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.