“Inspire Growth” Surface Festival Mural
The “INSPIRE GROWTH” mural was created in partnership with the ACT Government sustainability initiative “NoWASTE”, so I knew it had to have an environmental activism theme. First, I researched the impact of disposable coffee cups and found on Sustainability Victoria's website that Australians throw out 2.7 million single-use or disposable coffee cups every single day. They said “This adds up to 1 billion coffee cups thrown out every year. It’s no surprise that disposable coffee cups are a major contributor to litter on our streets and in our waterways.” So a reusable coffee cup had to be in there somewhere.
The mural site is located in a bustling Canberra suburb known for its cafe culture so for design research I spoke to various local business owners about their sustainability practices. It’s important to me that the mural directly reflects the local community and empowers the general audience to make more informed choices about sustainability.
One nearby cafe was donating their food waste to community gardens for composting, and the owner and I got chatting about how cool it was that coffee grounds were being used to grow mushrooms for commercial kitchen use. I started researching this and found a scientist from the Canberra-based Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Dr Oliver Mead, was researching different uses for fungi. He told me that “Fungi have such an important role in our ecosystem. They have a crucial role as decomposers and recyclers. And they make it possible for members of the other kingdoms to be supplied with nutrients and to live. Ultimately, the food chain would not exist without these organisms.” Then I read about global research being undertaken into using a specific fungus to clean up oil spills! This inspired the oily coffee liquid seeping out of the keep up.
Mushrooms seemed like the perfect symbol for recycling, and the words “Inspire Growth” act as a double meaning; the fungi research inspired a spiritual growth in me by helping me to consider new ways of doing things, and the action of recycling food waste inspired a physical growth for food production. I added the KeepCup logo while I was painting, which I have adapted to say “Keep Up”. This is a little tongue-in-cheek that asks the viewer “What are you doing to inspire growth?”
Artist BOHIE discussion street art commission INSPIRE GROWTH
