Applications to paint the Bondi Beach Graffiti wall are OPEN AGAIN!

It’s been a while – due to COVID some of the panels have stayed up for three years instead of the normal six months!

Well Waverley council have just announced that they are now inviting artists of all calibres to apply to paint a mural on the Sea Wall.

Artists may also apply to paint the protective concrete blocks lining Campbell Parade and across South Bondi Park.

Artists may apply for up to ten blocks to create a body of work.

Artists can apply HERE

North Bondi Kid’s Pool: A new permanent public artwork for North Bondi

Waverley Council is calling on artists to register their interest in developing a concept for a new permanent artwork at the North Bondi kid’s pool.

Registrations of interest are open to all artists, architects, landscape architects, designers, craft persons and community groups interested in creating a site-specific artwork.

Mayor of Waverley, Paula Masselos, said the project will provide a significant opportunity for the arts community to showcase their talents in an iconic location.

“We are pleased to provide this exciting opportunity to support artists during the wake of COVID-19 and demonstrate the importance of art to the community”

“The creative arts community has taken a massive hit during this pandemic as well as funding cuts to the industry, so this is a significant opportunity.”

Mayor Masselos

Council spent 18 months looking at ways to recommission the community mosaic that local artists and community members, including students from Bondi Beach Public School, created in the 1980s for the wall along the pool.

The mosaic was removed in 2019 as part of urgent asset renewal works to replace the stormwater culvert and promenade at North Bondi due to concrete cancer. Due to the cost and difficulty involved in delivering the recommission, Council decided at its 21 July Council meeting it would instead call for registrations of interest for a new artwork to be installed in the space.

“Whilst we are disappointed the mosaic could not be retained, it will live on for generations in Council’s Local Studies Collection,”.

“We worked with local artists and archival specialists to document and save the most significant parts of the mosaic before it was removed and we are currently storing 112 pieces, which will either be retained in the local history section of Waverley Library or returned to their makers.

“I know the mosaic has been an important part of North Bondi for more than 30 years, and I thank all the artists and locals involved in its installation. We know the mosaic will always have a special place in the history of our community.”

Mayor Masselos

Artists registering their interest for the new artwork are asked to submit around 10 quality images of previous public artworks alongside concept design statements and other information. An internal Project Control Group, working alongside the Waverley Public Art Committee, will then review submissions against a set framework and shortlist a maximum of six proponents to proceed to the detailed design stage.

Detailed Design works will then go to community consultation for feedback and input. Waverley Council will award the commission, taking account of guidance from the Waverley Public Art Committee, with strong consideration given to the feedback provided by the community .

Registrations open later today at https://portal.tenderlink.com/waverley/ and close 25 October 2020.

The Bondi Memorial Public Artwork: Community Consultation opens 3 June 2020

Waverley Council and LGBTQ+ health organisation ACON are calling for community feedback on the shortlisted designs for the development of a site-specific public artwork in Marks Park, Tamarama.

The permanent memorial is to acknowledge the victims and survivors of an epidemic of homophobic and transphobic violence estimated to have claimed the lives of more than 88 gay men and transgender women across NSW between 1970 and 2000.

Several of these crimes took place in Marks Park on the Bondi coastline and were documented in Greg Callaghan’s 2007 true crime book, Bondi Badlands and Duncan McNab’s 2017 book Getting Away With Murder.

The memorial will be located on the south-western side of Marks Park in a peaceful area with a natural framing in the landscape and views across the ocean to Bronte. The Council has committed $100,000 for the commissioning of the memorial. ACON is also fundraising through bondimemorial.com.au.

Consultation on the shortlisted designs will run from 3 June until 5 July 2020 at haveyoursay.waverley.nsw.gov.au/bondi-memorial.

Waverley Council announces ‘Swim & Go’ and ‘Surf & Go’ measures at Bondi and Bronte beaches

Following discussions with the Minister for Health and Medical Research, Brad Hazzard, the Mayor of Waverley, Paula Masselos, today announced strict new ‘Swim & Go’ and ‘Surf & Go’ measures at Bondi and Bronte beaches and ‘Surf & Go’ at Tamarama Beach.

The measures will provide a safe way for local surfers and experienced ocean swimmers to exercise safely in the water. The measures have a strong emphasis on social distancing.

https://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/top_link_pages/news_and_media/council_news/news/corona/waverley_council_announces_swim_and_go_and_surf_and_go_measures_at_bondi_and_bronte_beaches?

2020 Winter Wall-Painting Applications closing soon!

Are you a graffiti or mural artist with a desire to express yourself on Sydney’s most famous public canvas?

Well Waverley Council are looking for the next crop of artists to come and paint the Bondi Beach Graffiti Wall – and applications close soon (15th April 2020). Painting will commence in July.

This link to the council website has all the details and forms you need to apply:

https://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/recreation/arts_and_culture/bondi_beach_sea_wall

If you are fortunate, your work could be seen by millions of tourists each year.

And remember – if you don’t ask – you don’t get!

APPLY NOW to paint the Bondi Beach Graffiti Wall this summer!

The Bondi Beach Sea Wall is open to artists of all calibres. Artists seeking permission to paint a mural must submit an application online.

To support the diverse and dynamic character of Bondi, the artworks on the Bondi Beach Sea Wall are constantly changing. Each panel on the Sea Wall is allocated for a six month time period.

Applications to create a work on the Sea Wall for summer 2020 will be accepted until Friday 6 September.

Applications must be received before Friday 6 September for painting across summer 2020.

For further information, please contact Waverley Council’s Visual Arts Team at visualarts@waverley.nsw.gov.au or by phone on 02 9083 8746.

Image by Days One DCA and Kade.

Welcome to Bondi – Freedom of Speech

Everyone was shocked when ELK (artist Luke Cornish) stencilled his Welcome to Bondi panel in late July 2019.

The panel depicts 24 Border Force ‘soldiers’ in paramilitary/riot gear holding semiautomatic weapons – with WELCOME TO BONDI lettered in a Soviet-style font across the top.

This represents the 24 Asylum Seekers who have committed suicide in Australian onshore/offshore detention camps since 2010.

Now the Graffiti wall at Bondi Beach has always been used for social issues (refugees, marine conservation etc) and Luke has a history of painting confronting pieces – his 2016 – Capitalist Pig piece with Kaff-eine features a Capitalist Pig and his canine wife who wears a scarf made of Syrian refugees – but this one REALLY upset people. Local politicians ranted against the painting on Facebook, local people (by and large) ranted FOR the painting. It made media across the country. Petitions were launched for- and against- the mural. It became a real political hot-potato.

And so on Tuesday night (6th August) Waverley Council voted whether to keep the mural or not. They voted 5-4 in favour of the mural (broadly split on political lines) and local art-lovers celebrated.

Then late that night after the meeting someone defaced the mural with a roller. Police haven’t yet caught the culprits – but it echoes the behaviours of other thugs in February this year when the wall was defaced with swastikas in an attempt to intimidate Bondi’s Jewish community.

Free speech isn’t for everyone it seems.

So where do we go now? We are hoping that Luke paints right back over it!