Perth is a colourful, vibrant city filled with an eclectic mix of street and public artworks. What makes street art in Perth seem so unique is the enormity of sculptures and murals in this Western Australia city.
In fact, walking around the city, it’s easy to see how Perth’s earned its reputation as Australia’s number two street art city.
As a result of its reputation, or perhaps the reason for it, the city attracts numerous international artists. While the artwork around the city is quite eclectic, much of the commissioned work celebrates history and culture or looks to a brighter future. However, there are others that are just fun.
In fact, there are over 200 public artworks in the city and several interesting places to see public art in the surrounding areas.
Massive works of art appear on seemingly random buildings and often in laneways and alleyways.
We didn’t always get the artists’ names, but where we did, we shared them below.
My two favourite examples of public and street art in Perth
Let’s get started with two of my personal favourite pieces, one an example of Perth street art, the other of public art.
Mural by Rone (2018): This larger-than-life female muse is a classic example of Rone’s work. We saw this 22-metre-tall mural on Hibernian Place, a commercial precinct on Hay Street. Australian-born Rone has international fame, with his work found domestically as well as in the USA, Europe, and Asia.
Grow Your Own (2011): The brightly coloured public art display by James Angus caught my eye. Shades of green reference the emergence of the organic farming movement in the early 20th century. Surrounded by heritage buildings, this modern sculpture encourages the locals to connect their city and community.
Animal street art in Perth
What’s in a name? Just my random thoughts as I pondered over the simplicity of calling animal street art exactly what it is. These works are Rat, Wolf, Snake and Crows, respectively.
When it comes to animal street art in Perth, I consistently have two favourite artists. These are Belgian artist ROA and local Perth artist Hurben.
Sculpture and public art
Percy Button
With street and public art just about everywhere we looked, it was difficult to pick favourites to share here. But these five rose to the top of my personal favourite sculptures:
- Der Rufer (The Caller) (1967) was inspired when the artist found himself standing beside a man as he called across a river to attract the ferryman on the other side.
- Statue of Percy Button by The Smith Sculptors on Hay Street.
- Bronze Gumnut Baby statues are based on the beloved characters Snugglepot and Cuddlepie from the Gummut Baby series by May Gibbs. These statues are located in Stirling Gardens.
- Statue of Bishop Matthew Hale, first Bishop of Perth, sculpted by Greg James. He stands outside the Cloisters with a welcoming outstretched arm.
- “The Mob” is one of my favourite pieces of street art in Perth. These life-sized bronze kangaroos on St. Georges Terrace celebrate one of the symbols of Australia.
Yagan Square
Yagan Square is a public space project in the Horseshoe Bridge area of Perth that combines community space with food, shopping, and transit.
Here we found the digital tower, which is both an electronic showcase displaying curated art and information as well as the place to snap your selfie in front of the big letters that spell out “Perth.”
Standing tall is ‘Wirin‘, a 9-metre public sculpture of a strong, contemporary Aboriginal figure that embodies the spirit and culture of the indigenous Noongar people. It was created by artist Tjyllyungoo – Lance Chadd
Elizabeth Quay
The Elizabeth Quay Project’s goal was to reconnect the waterway with the people, thus kindling a passion for the river’s natural beauty. There are several interesting public artworks found here.
- The Statue of Bessie Mabel Rischbith by artist Jon Tarry stands at the river’s edge on the small island as you cross the Elizabeth Quay bridge. Bessie was a civil rights and conservation activist.
- Swans: Next to the bronze statue of Bessie stands a bronze black swan.
- First Contact, a 5-metre tall cast aluminium sculpture by renowned Nyoongar artist Laurel Nannup symbolises the arrival of the European settlers. From a distance, their hulls reminded the people of giant floating birds with (sails) outstretched arms.
- Spanda, called the Big Paperclip by locals, welcomes visitors while at the same time linking the river, the land, and the sky.
More fun street art in Perth
It seems everywhere we look in Perth is beautiful street art. And much of it changes over time; there one visit, gone the next.
On one visit, we were lucky to hang out with local Perth friends from A Hole in My Shoe, who also happen to love street art and showed us some of the pieces on this page.
Where to stay in Perth
We stayed at the Adnate the week before their big grand opening party, which for us meant we got to meet, talk to, and watch Matt Adnate paint. It was pretty amazing. The rooms were lovely, and Adnate’s art throughout the hotel was as impressive as one would expect.
The first Art Series hotel in Perth is easily identifiable from a distance by the huge 27-story high mural by Adnate on Hay Street. The mural, one of the world’s tallest, features the faces of people representing the diverse fabric of Western Australia.
The hotel was centrally located and has parking, an outdoor pool, delicious meals at their restaurant, and even some impressive nightlife activity. Reserve your room at the Adnate.
Outside the city: other street art in Perth region
Getting out of Perth, there are three key areas to see some unique street art: Fremantle, the public silo trail, and Gnomesville.
Fremantle
These are three sections of a giant mural that was still in the works on our last visit. It covers both sides of the East West Design building. One side is nautical-themed, while the other is worldly. They are 50m and 86m respectively.
It’s an artwork that can be glanced at and enjoyed, or one could spend hours studying the details.
Luck and good timing allowed us to meet Graeme Miles Richards, the New Zealand born artist living in Perth. He had been working on this building for 2.5 years.
My favourite find is the painted globe in the photo above, as it perpetuates the ‘sibling-style’ rivalry between Australia and New Zealand. Notice that Richards has included ‘the three islands of New Zealand’: correctly labelling the North and South islands but labelling a shrunken version of Australia as NZ’s West Island.
Public silo trail
As we headed inland, we followed most of the public silo trail, exploring impressive artwork skillfully painted by well-known international and national street artists onto huge grain silos.
The portion of the silo trail we followed took us from Perth to Northam, Pingrup, Newdegate, Katanning, and Albany. From there, we took the stunning coastal road back from Albany to Perth.
Street art fans will also love these gnomes
If a sculpture is a form of street art, what about gnomes? If not one, then what about over 10,000 gnomes all in one spot?
Does this sound ridiculous to you? If so, you probably haven’t been to Gnomesville, located about 2 hours south of Perth in the Ferguson Valley. This is one bizarre day trip destination.
Perth vs Melbourne: the battle for Australia’s street art capital
Perth takes a clear second in popularity to the internationally recognized Australian street art capital, which is Melbourne. However, both cities offer impressive and diverse examples of both public and street art.
Unlike Melbourne street art that fills up every inch of the laneways it covered, the street art in Perth seems to focus on one image at a time.
Read next: Explore Melbourne Street Art and Graffiti Laneways
Save on your Australia trip with these resources
These are our go-to companies when we travel. We believe this list to be the best in each category. You can’t go wrong using them on your trip too.
- Flights: we use Expedia for the best and cheapest flight options.
- Accommodations: we use Booking.com (hotels), VRBO (self-contained), or Hostelworld (budget).
- Cars (gas or electric): we use RentalCars to search for deals and dealer ratings.
- Motorcycles: we have heard good things about BikesBooking.
- Campervans or Motorhomes: we use Campstar where Albom Adventures readers get a 3% discount.
- Activity discounts: we check Bookme.com for discounts of up to 70% on activities.
- Private guides: we often find the best option is to hire a private guide.
- Travel Insurance: while not required, we always opt for travel insurance and start at InsureMyTrip to compare coverage plans.
Check out our travel resources page for more companies that we use when you travel.
Save for later
If you enjoyed this article, please share it on social media and save it for later on Pinterest.
Where is your favourite street art in Perth?
Photo Credits:
All photos on this page are ©Albom Adventures. All rights reserved.
Chloe
Ahhh I love good street art!! It’s really on the rise here in Denver too and I love looking for great new additions, really brightens up the city!! These ones in Perth look amazing too! Can’t wait to see what you share on FlyAwayFriday this weekend! Xo Chloe
Rhonda Albom
I didn’t spend enough time in Denver to see street art – only snow. LOL
Kreete
I love street art too! I had no idea Perth had so much of that going on! I am getting more and more excited about the West Coast by the minute. Hoping to get there next year! Thanks for sharing your amazing photos again!
Rhonda Albom
I hope to get back to the west coast, sometime next winter.
Oakland Daily Photo
OMG, what a wealth of street murals you’ve shared today. The variety is amazing. The first composition really blows my mind.
Rhonda Albom
I was pretty impressed by the variety of street art in the Perth.
Nancie
Fantastic street art, Rhonda. I never realized that Perth was a street art destination.
Rhonda Albom
I now always ask at an information booth where to find the best street art in the city.
kid can doodle
Great art on that street! Would be my fave too! cheers from kidcandoodle
Rhonda Albom
We really do seek it out. Street art locations is one of the things we now ask about in city information sites.
Anda
These are very beautiful wall paintings. Street art seems to be something relatively new. Almost every big city in the world started art displays like this in the past 8-10 years. If you think about it, it all started with the ‘graffiti’, which was a form of vandalism and was punishable by law. I wonder if this artistic move wasn’t started by the municipalities as a way of controlling what is being painted on these walls.
Rhonda Albom
Interesting concept Anda. It got me thinking, maybe it is a step beyond and somehow a way to make money off of it, although I have no idea how.
David
Never knew Perth had so much cool street art. You’ve really captured them well too! That Fremantle mural looks awesome too.
Rhonda Albom
I had an idea after I did the collaborative series of posts on street art. Some of the art sent to me from Perth was pretty amazing.
jill
Whoa! That’s some very cool street art! I live in a rural area so I don’t see street art very often but I am coming to appreciate the talent behind it.
Rhonda Albom
I wasn’t always a fan. I developed an appreciation for it over that last few years
Lyn @ A Hole in my Shoe
Loving your photos of our local street art Rhonda. I am just doing up a post myself on the Perth street art and we haven’t got one the same. Just goes to show we must have a heap of good art around our gorgeous city. Reminds me, must get back down to Fremantle and check out the progress of the mural since I was there last, those penguins are new from my last visit.
Rhonda Albom
I had lots of photos to choose from. I will be interested to see if I saw any of your favourites.
lisa Ross
Love the art
Rhonda Albom
Thank Lisa.
Kim Marie Ostrowski
at least its art unlike 90-95% of the graffiti we have here!
Rhonda Albom
Like you, I am not a graffiti fan when it is destructive. However, I do like the street art in the graffiti style.
Tara tyler
We cavemen can’t resist the urge to draw on walls! Gorgeous artwork! Very inspiring, as all your photographs are!
Hope you’re doing well. Thanks so much for stopping by my Cradle Rock release tour =)
Rhonda Albom
Good point, I guess it really is the oldest art form.
budget jan
Ha Ha, I’m partial to West New Zealand myself! It is so long since we’ve lived in Perth and I had no idea they now have so much street art. It is fantastic.
Rhonda Albom
We enjoyed the West as well. I love every region I have been to in Australia.
shobha
i love street art and pinned this to my Street Art pinterest board. It took me a while to get the New Zealand North South West joke. Funny. I thought the artist was referring to the Cook Islands or some island I’ve not heard of yet.
Rhonda Albom
Thanks for the share. I guess you need to live in NZ or Aussie to get the joke right away.
bettyl - NZ
I enjoy street art as it’s much more personal and free than other forms of art. The ‘west island’ is so great!
Rhonda Albom
I loved the West Island 🙂
Joyce Lansky
Wow. It’s all amazing. How does one choose a favorite?
Rhonda Albom
Some people have a favorite piece of a favorite city. So far my fav city for street art is Melbourne.
Karen
Wow. I love seeing these. There are several that were my favorites. Even those that I feel that are dark were really good. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Rhonda Albom
You would love Australia, it’s a country that really seems to embrace street art.
Lyn aka The Travelling Lindfields
We managed to miss most of the street art when we were in Perth and Freemantle earlier this year. Lucky we are going back next year. I love the map of New Zealand. I have a board on Pinterest dedicated to street art around the world. This post is getting pinned straight to it.
Rhonda Albom
We seek it out and go on walks/bus rides specifically looking for street art. Thanks for sharing.
Ruth
Rhonda, you go girl! I love the art samples you have presented in here. I like when the murals and paintings are thoughtful and with meaning. That last photo including New Zealand’s West Island is genius. #TPThursday
Rhonda Albom
I did have to chuckle when I saw the three islands, with the two New Zealand islands quite a bit disproportional in size to their neighbours to the west.
Alex J. Cavanaugh
Some of those are really impressive. I like the black and white one.
Rhonda Albom
I was really impressed by that one too. It may not be as colourful as some of the others, but it is so detailed.
Barbara Radisavljevic
Can I correctly guess you liked the penguin art as much as I did?
Rhonda Albom
Oh yes, those penguins are adorable.
Lolo
Street art can be so incredibly interesting but sometimes I have a love/hate relationship with it!
Rhonda Albom
I used to have a love/hate relationship with it, now I just love it.
Faith Coates
I am constantly in awe of street art and artists, and it is one of the first places I gravitate towards when in a City. In Toronto we have graffiti alley which has some beautiful street art work. I love what the artists are doing to brighten up and make art available for everyone instead of keeping it tied up in museums and art gallerys. In my hometown they hate street art unless it is commissioned and paid for by rich people which sort of defies the reasons for its existence.
Rhonda Albom
Some cities, like Melbourne (Australia) even have a map of the alleyways filled with street art available from the information sites. Too bad your city doesn’t embrace the colours.
Mary {The World Is A Book}
I love street art too. What a great collection here. Some of them are so amusing especially the penguin ones. My favorite street art are the cartoon murals in Brussels.
Rhonda Albom
Yes, the penguins are adorable. They are part of a massive street art wall, all by the same artist.
Sue Whittaker
Graeme Richards is just AMAZING. He was actually there one day when I went to look at the shop-front (again) as I can never get enough.
I just had to go over and shake his hand. I can’t get over how talented he is.
Rhonda Albom
We also got to meet and talk to Graeme Richards. He is pretty cool.