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[title]Southbank's Hanover House building is looking fresher than ever following the unveiling of a new public artwork. Local artist Atong Atem has transformed the inner city building with 'Outdoor Living' – a vibrant, 1970s wallpaper-inspired floral mural that wraps two sides of the building from head to toe.
The artwork features two murals, both inspired by Atem's collection of colonial and vintage European wallpapers. On the building's Power Street-facing side is a repeating, dusty orange mural of silver banksia flowers, commonly found along the Merri Creek Trail. Complimenting the banksias on the City Road-facing side is a cerulean mural of tessellating tulips, reinterpreted from a wallpaper design Atem found in a Preston vintage store. Both murals are overlaid with large-scale neon flowers (including an 8.5 metres banksia) created by Electric Confetti.
Atem says the work explores her own relationship to Melbourne and Australia, as well as the sense of belonging to a place. She says: "With the work I have developed for Hanover House, I’m interested in the aesthetics of 1970s Australian homes and have chosen to reference the intimacy of those spaces by creating a wallpaper pattern reminiscent of late 20th-century living room walls.”
The work was commissioned as part of Beta by Sth Bnk, an experimental event series that brings together artists, brands and dining experiences over a six month period.
You can find 'Outdoor Living' on the corner of City Road and Power Street, Southbank.