Three new artworks will celebrate India and brighten up a dreary Dandenong space.
They’ll be near Halpin Way and Mason Street and create a colourful gateway into Victoria’s first Indian Cultural Precinct.
Greater Dandenong Mayor Youhorn Chea said feedback from the community highlighted the need for more colour and vibrancy in the precinct.
“The community told us they wanted the street to match the colour and vibrancy of the retail offer seen in the shops,” he said.
“This new artwork goes some way to achieving this.
“The artwork by highly experienced and internationally acclaimed artists will be completed over the next month and are designed to surprise and delight visitors to the area.”
A mural on the Mason Street car park by Rowena Martinich and Geoffrey Carran will be a reminder of Little India’s status as Melbourne’s hub of Indian and subcontinent culture and fashion.
It will take inspiration from the colour and movement found in Indian textile and tapestry designs.
Artist Julian Clavijo will create a mural of Mahatma Gandhi on a former substation in Halpin Way.
It will portray Gandhi’s message of non-violence and peaceful co-existence.
It will coincide with a digital exhibition at Melbourne’s Immigration Museum titled Mahatma Gandhi: An Immigrant.
A wall along Mason Street will be home to a mural by Springvale-raised artist Mike Eleven.
Mike was named one of the 40 most iconic artists in the Melbourne Street Art Guide and is co-founder of the world’s first 100 per cent recycled artist ink, Lousy Ink.
He’ll paint Greater Dandenong’s 2018 Australia Day Young Leader of the Year recipient, Aishwarya Pokkuluri, to represent India’s next generation in Australia.
She was recognised for her volunteer work and giving Greater Dandenong’s most vulnerable and marginalised young people a voice.
All three artworks will be finished by the end of May.
In 2015, the State Government announced plans to create Victoria’s first Indian Cultural Precinct in Dandenong.
A taskforce formed soon after to drive ideas for the project.
Melbourne’s South-East is home to more than 52,000 people of Indian origin.
About 12,400 first generation Indian residents call the City of Greater Dandenong home.
