David Collins points to the Argus apartment tower in Darwin’s CBD. The building’s facades stand out on the skyline as 10-storey canvases for two stunning murals by Melbourne-based mural artist George Rose. The vibrant works are large-scale renditions of George’s favourite motifs – flora and fauna – and in this case specific to the Larrakia country around the NT capital “For the first few years we used to have to beg building owners to let us put art works on them,” David says. “Now they beg us to come.”
David and his business partner, First Nations artist Jesse Bell, are the principals of Proper Creative, and co-directors of the annual Darwin Street Art Festival (DSAF). With a strong background in street art and graffiti in the Northern Territory since 2017, they and a host of other nationally and internationally famous street artists have transformed the streets of Darwin (and Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs) into an outdoor art gallery. Each year during the DSAF in May and June local and visiting artists add more works to the landscape with support from the Northern Territory government through Activate Darwin and other sponsors. During the rest of the year, visitors to Darwin can explore the works that are their legacy in the CBD and suburbs with the aid of an interactive map downloaded from the DSAF website or a physical copy of the map picked up from the Tourism Top End visitor centre in Bennett Street in Darwin. Best place to start is where the movement began in Austin and West Lanes in downtown Darwin.
David’s interest in street art began as a youngster growing up out of place in the fishing and footy-playing culture of the Top End. He found his anchors in hip hop and comic books and started his painting career decorating the stormwater drains of Darwin’s northern suburbs. “I went to art school for a while, but realised I’d rather practise my art than learn about it,” he says. “My first paid gig was on the wall of a nightclub in the CBD.”
The origins of Darwin’s street art movement go back to 2014, when a small group of Darwin artists managed to get the developer’s permission to cover the boarded-up walls of an empty supermarket building with their brightly coloured canvases. “From there, we were encouraged to do more,” David recalls. “The first DSAF in 2017 added eight more murals and the movement has grown ever since.”
These days there are 24 murals alone in a 370-metre stretch of Austin Lane and it would be rare to walk down what was once a no-go zone without seeing visitors exploring the works and photographing the scenes. The murals include paintings by luminaries including social realist Fintan Magee, Archibald finalist Matthew Adnate, Brisbane-based large-scale artist DRAPL and lawyer turned street artist Kaff-eine alongside local talent including Miss Polly, Jason Lee and sisters Cyan Sue-Lee and Mikayla Lee aka Gindy Legs.
Jesse Bell’s work is also well represented with a memorial portrait of Dr G Yunupingu which was a collaboration with Melbourne artist Andrew J Rourke, another joint project depicting endangered Gouldian finches done with James ‘Dvate’ Beattie and a powerful rendition of Merv Bishop’s photograph of Gough Whitlam and Gurindji elder Vincent Lingiari’s historic moment on a carpark wall.
In 2025, the new works included La Catrina, a Mexican embroidery-inspired mural by Los Angeles artists Eric Zoveh Skotnes and Angelica Navarro and Pale September by Belgian American artist Ryan ‘Yanoe’ Sarfati. This work was a continuation of a relationship which began the previous year, when David was travelling in the US on a Churchill fellowship. This allowed him to travel to Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia to study early intervention and restorative justice programs using public art, with people at-risk or caught in the criminal justice system. “I had a week off in the middle of the trip,” David says. “Fortunately we were able to bring over a couple of Larrakia artists, Jason and Trent Lee, to work with Yanoe and then he came to Darwin for this year’s festival and worked with them again. That truly is the power of street art. People get to share their stories and work on projects that change lives as well as landscapes.” AC For more information visit darwinstreetartfestival.com. au/darwin-street-art-tours.
