Taking prime position in front of the Prahran Town Hall, Tristan Kerr’s bold, graphic art piece celebrates the cultural diversity of the area and its history. Replacing a faded work by Reko Rennie, it was important to Tristan to pay homage to the Aboriginal artist. ‘Prahran takes its name from a compound of two Aboriginal words – “Pur-ra-ran,’” meaning “land partially surrounded by water”,’ explains Tristan, ‘as an ally in the Aboriginal struggle, I chose this as the focus for the work.’

Tristan found further inspiration in the manifesto of the Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance (WAR), lifting the words ‘lands, lives, and liberties’ and painting them into the mural.

The visual elements of the work seek to engage with the public, speaking to the many different stories lived out in a developing urban landscape. ‘The many material, fragmented layers that form within my paintings are a metaphor for the multiple, fleeting histories lived out across the city surfaces on which they meditate,’ he posits.

Watch Tristan create his epic Prahran mural below!