Adelaide is home to some of the best street art in the world.
Hidden in alleys, nooks, corners, and lanes, finding the artworks is an urban adventure that celebrates our cultural diversity and invites you to consider different perspectives.
Most recently, Adelaide Fringe unveiled the epic street mural created on the corner of Solomon Street and Rosina Street in Adelaide City by the extremely talented Wendy Dixon-Whiley who has been creating art from a young age.
“I wanted to draw all the time and did the usual things as a kid, like draw on the walls apparently. One of my favourite teachers when I was very young, back in early primary school, noticed that when I’d draw things, I’d bring in unexpected stuff. She’d say, ‘Why does that apple have blue on it?’, and I’d say something like, ‘That's because the light from the window reflects on it’.”
“We reconnected recently, and she told me that’s when she knew I was going to be an artist. So other people picked up on it (my art), and nurtured it, I guess. I had another teacher around the same time who decided she was going to keep some of my art in case I ever became famous one day, which is sweet, but I don’t think she’s sitting on a fortune.”
Wendy’s Rosina Street mural represents icons of Adelaide with a twist, reflecting her signature style.
I’ve been known for more of a ‘freewheeling’ style in the past. An Adelaide icon mural has been done to death, not that it’s a bad thing, but I thought I'd ‘weird it up’ a bit. When people actually pay attention and look at it closely, they can actually see things getting a little strange the higher up you go.
Wendy’s been involved with Fringe for many years, but her fondest Fringe memory is of the iconic posters from past years of the festival.
“When I was in high school, the art teacher had all the posters from the 80s and 90s in her art room. That was really cool – as a naive country kid, I was very sheltered and didn’t get to go to galleries or anything like that. I was just really drawn to these posters, the 1992 and 1994 winners really stood out to me, if you look them up, you’ll probably see why immediately. Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to be selected a finalist for the Adelaide Fringe Poster Competition and I’m determined to take that one out one day!”.
You can see Wendy’s mural on the corner of Solomon Street and Rosina Street in Adelaide City.
Street Art Explosion wouldn't be possible without the support of our partners, Porter's Paint and Pirate Life.
More information from the 2023 Adelaide Fringe edition of WeekendPlus: