Footpath artists step up to keep communities connected

Chalk drawings, dad jokes, inspirational messages and even obstacle courses are appearing on suburban footpaths as residents search for ways to stay connected while in isolation.

Darcy, 12, shows off the jokes her family has written on a footpath outside their Arana Hills home.

CHALK drawings, jokes and inspirational messages are starting to appear on suburban footpaths as residents search for ways to stay connected with their communities while in isolation.

A couple of sisters in Nundah even created a mini obstacle course which incorporated hop scotch, a ‘tight rope’ line and zigzag lines.

Like the teddy bear hunt, where soft toys are placed in windows, the idea behind the chalk drawings is to give people something to look at as they walk around their neighbourhoods for exercise.

Abby Argus, 11, and brother Patrick, 9, put the finishing touches to their footpath art at Nundah.

Alyson of Arana Hills said her whole family had been involved in creating footpath art.

“On the first night we all went out and did something after dinner,” she said. “We did some pretty amateur average drawings.

“We live in a really community minded street. In isolation I’ve been thinking about how we can still stay connected in some way.

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“There’s a national movement – the Rainbow Trail doing drawings – I wanted to expand on it.

“We’ve written jokes (including some ‘dad jokes’) and positive sayings – funny things to make people smile.

“We’re thinking of expanding to trivia questions – just something so people can stop and think.

“My kitchen looks over the footpath and I see people pause and read and take photos. It’s nice to keep in touch with our community while we try to stay distant.”

A chalk message on the footpath at Arana Hills.

Julie Imber of Nundah said her son decorated the footpath in front of their house.

“I’m working from home and the children are doing school work and we’re all going a bit mental,” Ms Imber said.

“My nine-year-old son used to draw on the footpath with chalk years ago. So at the end of the day we went and found the chalk and he just drew different pictures on the squares on the footpath.

“He wrote things like ‘stay safe’ and ‘stop and smell the roses’.

“The street we live in is quite busy so there’s a lot of walking traffic and we thought as people walked they’d just have something to read.

“It’s something anyone can do as long as they have some chalk.”