Darwin Street Art Festival returns, with local artist to paint massive 380sq m wall
The festival, now in its ninth year, will feature artists from across the world, and see 25 murals painted across Darwin
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Artists from across the world will begin descending on Darwin from this weekend as the Darwin Street Art Festival returns.
Now in its ninth year, the festival has seen nearly 130 murals painted across Darwin, the only city in Australia with a mural on every major city street.
The 2025 edition will see 25 more artworks added to Darwin, with local artist Caleb Dude painting the first on Reichart Road in Winnellie on Saturday.
Mr Dude began his career as a professional artist in 2019 when he was 16 years old, and has since painted more than 750sqm of wall across the Top End.
He said his 2025 artwork would be “bold and colourful”.
“To begin with, I’ll use what is called a ‘squiggle grid’,” he said.
“A lot of artists will use this to start their mural.
“This technique uses random shapes and symbols to create a map that I can use to overlay my design, and then transfer it onto the enormous wall without getting wonky proportions.”
He said the finished mural would look very different, and encouraged Territorians to keep coming back to see his progress.
Other locations getting a fresh paint job include the Nightcliff shops, Alawa Oval, and Casuarina Square.
This year, the Darwin Street Art Festival has partnered with Top End Gin Festival, which will see artists painting live across the weekend.
Festival director David Collins said Darwin was now a “street art city”.
“People come here for the art,” he said.
“The walls in Darwin tell stories, and we hope you enjoy the new ones that will go up over the next three weeks.
“We’re nine years in and our outdoor gallery has works by incredible artists from across Australia and from almost every continent, it’s unreal.
“But we’re always just as proud to have our bill stacked with local artists.”
The festival will also be debuting Double Exposure, a new outdoor projection exhibition, that will transform the city into a vibrant night-time gallery for one night only.
This large-scale installation will transform the carpark at the old RSL site in Darwin’s CBD, including the activation of existing large-scale murals, and an immersive two-storey cube installation showcasing film, photography, and digital artworks.
More than 10 projectors and light displays across four installations, incorporating work by international, national, and local artists in the heart of Darwin’s city, with food provided on-site by Ethiopian Sisters Kitchen and Africa Soul Food.
The exhibition will feature celebrated artists Thandiwe Muriu (Kenya) and Atong Atem (Melbourne).
As a first time DSAF event, Double Exposure will also amplify the voices of local youth and community artists, including young artists from Launch Darwin, the art of Lukas Bendel who will mentor and deliver hands-on workshops to support youth art development, and Shane Eecen from local business Northern Lights, creating the dynamic projections that will activate two of Darwin’s iconic large-scale murals.
An Artist talk at Bustard Town on May 30 will also be held, featuring artists George Goodnow, Neryl Walker and Cyan Sue Lee, hosted by emcee and artist Hannah Illingworth.
The Darwin Street Art Festival runs from May 24 to June 15.
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Originally published as Darwin Street Art Festival returns, with local artist to paint massive 380sq m wall
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