The City of South Perth is hosting its first No More Blank Walls Mural Festival next month — from Friday, April 10th to Saturday, April 18th — and the name is fairly literal: blank walls across four of the city’s precincts are getting painted, live, by a group of artists whose work spans continents.
Heading the international contingent is Irish muralist Aches, known for a chromatic painting style that has drawn attention well beyond Europe. He’ll be working alongside a strong local and national cast — Western Australian artists Amok Island, Fieldey, James Giddy, Jarni, and Rob Jenkins, plus Australian artists Loretta Lizzio, George Rose, and Justine McAllister.
City of South Perth Mayor Greg Milner said, “We’re excited to bring the No More Blank Walls Mural Festival to the City of South Perth. The strong track record of the team from Blank Walls International Pty Ltd shows how mural art can revitalise public spaces and bring people together.”
“Bringing a festival of this calibre to our City will create new reasons for people to explore our neighbourhoods and experience the City of South Perth in a fresh and creative way.”
What’s happening across the nine days
The murals are being painted in real time throughout the festival, so turning up while work is in progress is part of the experience. Beyond the painting itself, there’s a free community program running alongside it — artist talks, workshops, and guided tours through the precincts.
The headline event is Blank Walls Live, described as a high-energy live art battle with artists competing in front of a crowd, backed by DJs and food and drink on site.
No More Blank Walls isn’t new to Perth; Blank Walls International has run previous instalments in the cities of Subiaco and Stirling, and in the Town of Port Hedland — so the South Perth edition comes with a working model already proven across WA.
Co-founder Alex Harvey said, “Murals have the power to completely shift how people experience a place. A wall that people walked past yesterday suddenly becomes something they stop for, photograph and feel proud of. That’s the impact public art can have when it’s delivered at scale.”
Once the festival wraps, the murals stay — funded through the City Public Art Reserve and added to the local public art collection. The four precincts will become a mural trail that residents and visitors can follow year-round, long after the paint has dried.
