Gentrification of Fitzroy

Curated by Unimelb, 2015

This tour will demonstrate how street art has assisted in the gentrification of Fitzroy. It will show how the gentrification through street art has been utilised by locals, as advertisements posing as street art in the area increase in number and variety. The tour goes in order from the least to most overt advertisements. It is set up as a time warp, where people from twenty years ago are transported to the present.

Stop 1

Street art has assisted in the gentrification of Fitzroy over the past couple of decades. It has helped transform Fitzroy from an industrial working class area, to one of the most sought after suburbs of Melbourne. This rise in street art has been…

Stop 2

In comparison to the street art slap posing as street art, this mural is a little more overt in the message it conveys. Unlike the slap, this mural is more visually appealing and looks like the typical work people picture when they think of street…

Stop 3

An artwork which has definitely been commissioned is this Smug mural of a stereotypical Australian yobbo. A majority of people believe it was commissioned by the Nobody Clothing brand because of the advertisement billboard that sits in the top left…

Stop 4

This stencil artwork is a good example of how Melbourne’s street art has transformed to a mainstream culture in the last decade. In 2003 when the street artist Banksy visited Melbourne he started a major trend in the streets of Melbourne-…

Stop 5

The most obvious advertising image in the form of street art is at the last stop. These advertisement paste ups use the same material as street art paste ups- thin newspaper like paper, with a glue substance made of wheat and polyurethane to…