Stop 1. Wedged Hive

Hop off the number 96 tram at stop 16 and walk north up Nicholson Street until you find, wedged between two ‘undecorated’ buildings, a house behind a fence that has become a hive of activity. Immediately after the façades of the adjacent walls end and the brickwork of the centre house begins, every visible surface becomes a site of tagging, graffiti, rebellion and reclamation.

What is it about this exact location that attracts such a buzz of embellishment? In addition to its prime position in Fitzroy, a notable area for street art, it is the exclusivity of the TC Hire fencing that causes street artists to flood in the masses.

This property is a site of ‘urban ivy’, where instead of leaves and vines, it’s letters and figures, and where the cyclicality of ownership is being embodied and repossession envelops the building.

It is possible that passing the threshold of the fence, put up by an authority, is essentially an act reclaiming an element of the public sphere. This idea is enticing to most street artists, therefore creating a united sense of community, where notorious figures such as Prizm, Pork and the FYG crew amongst many others come together to create what can be seen here as an organised chaos.

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