South Sea Spray

The South Sea Spray book is a stunning, first edition publication which encapsulates a documentation of over 100 murals created during five festivals from South Island towns including Winton, Waihopāi, Motupōhue, Gore, and Aparima over the past six years. The murals of South Sea Spray, represent a diversity of visual language, narrate stories of cultural identity, and aims to position Aotearoa as a forerunner for high-quality muralism within the global perspectives of mural painting.

The South Sea Spray book is a stunning, first edition publication which encapsulates a documentation of over 100 murals created during five festivals from South Island towns including Winton, Waihopāi, Motupōhue, Gore, and Aparima over the past six years. The murals of South Sea Spray, represent a diversity of visual language, narrate stories of cultural identity, and aims to position Aotearoa as a forerunner for high-quality muralism within the global perspectives of mural painting. The murals demonstrate that local talent is of international stature and that Southland is on its trajectory to become Aotearoa’s leading mural destination. The murals form a platform for community building and the feedback from locals and their experiences in each of these festivals have created an uplifting and positive vibe which promotes increased accessibility and appreciation of public art.

The publication will profile the breadth of the Aotearoa urban art community which will feature over 27 locally established artists and highlight emerging ones spanning the length of the country. These artist profiles will provide insights into their diverse discourse of practice in community and commercial contexts within the local and international landscape and feature over 300 images. These profiles will
form a significant database, network, and reference guide for promoting greater cultural understanding of artists from diverse backgrounds.

The SSS publication is an educational resource for visual art educators, researchers, and academics within the educational sector. It is aimed to support student creativity in learning how artists develop their ideas and visual language, apply technical and process driven conventions from painting for public art, and implement approaches in research for mural design. There is currently a lack of academic literature that supports the education of mural painting within Aotearoa. The intention of this publication prepares current and future generations of aspiring artists with the knowledge and skills through the lens of artists who have developed their art practice primarily through informal art education and lessons from the industry in which they have helped to shape. 

Limited print run of 500 copies.