I have taken thousands of pictures in Melbourne, Australia. A lot of them have featured some of the fantastic street art you’ll find here. In my 366 pictures series only one picture from Melbourne featured street art, and I actually took this picture on two different days to ensure it was included on the project. However, as so often happened, something else came along and beat it to the ‘picture of the day.’

An abandoned building on Swanston Street in Melbourne was the setting for an interesting piece of street art. Hung in a classic frame, the picture was high enough that it was probably out of view of many of the people who must regularly walk by it busily thumb their phones and unaware of its existence. Though from the tram (where I first spotted it), it was clearly visible.

Like a lot of street art, initially identifying the piece wasn’t easy. However, after doing some research online, I managed to find out that this piece is the work of an elusive Melbourne street artist who goes by the name of Klara.

In an interview in Lip Magazine Klara said, “I had my first solo show in Melbourne at Off the Kerb Gallery in Collingwood. It wasn’t a huge success. There were a few pieces that didn’t sell, so when it finished I applied the unsold works to the streets instead of storing them in my studio. The creative freedom and feedback I received was much more rewarding than what I got in a gallery atmosphere. After that I was hooked, and the process felt more organic, as art should be, without the need for commercial premises or representation. I love every part of the process. The preparation, unpredictability and adventure.”

Klara glued this piece to the boarded up window back in December 2011, about three months before I saw it. On her blog she explains how she passed by the location many times on the tram and how she thought the boarded up windows would make a great frame for some art work.

Unfortunately, despite visiting the location twice to take the same picture and thus surely secure its on 366 pictures, Klara’s piece didn’t become picture of the day. The first picture to ‘bump’ it was one from the building right next to where Klara had installed her street art. It was a picture of a lone CCTV camera amid a sea of circles that make up the buildings facade. The second picture to ‘bump’ it was of a chaotic shop in Northcote that was run by an interesting old lady. It’s a shame I never got to include it because I really like the shot and Klara’s original work.

As an aside, I will say that one of the rewarding aspects of doing 366 pictures was the research that went into the pictures that were published. Until today I had no idea who had done this work of street art, and this is just another example of how doing 366 gave me the opportunity and motivation to become more engaged with my surroundings.

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