Hundreds of angry residents have decried a decision by Wollongong council to paint over an "impressive" piece of unsolicited street art.
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The sprawling mural, showing a sleeping Mother Earth nestled against a green escarpment, was the work of climate emergency collective Extinction Rebellion Northern Illawarra. It was intended to send a message about climate change, but may have sparked a louder debate about artistic merit.
Meantime, the city's Lord Mayor has called on the anonymous artists to re-do the work, in an approved setting next time.
The mural was painted by group of artists Thursday night and added to with chalk colour and messages by members of the community over the weekend.
But by Monday evening it had been painted over by a city clean-up crew, after Wollongong City Council deemed it graffiti "not requested or approved by Council".
Responding on the city's Facebook page, a handful of people supported council's decision, labelling the work "illegal graffiti", "cheap" and "painted by an amateur".
But about 200 others defended the work. Their comments included the following:
"It is a generous and charitable act by artists in a public space. What a terrible way to say thank you. Our neighbourhood loved it." - Jackie Bailey
"Tragic! What a sensitive, beautiful and community-minded artwork with the villages nestled in Mama Escarpments protective body - now find out who the generous artist was and pay him or her $20k to paint it all over again please." - Edward Birt
"Did you ask what we wanted as Thirroul ratepayers? This mural was amazing and we have all very quickly fallen in love with her." - Bel Lee
Numerous residents claimed the work had more merit than the city's infamous "palm tree up a pole" - a series of head-scratching installations commissioned for Wollongong CBD three years ago, to the tune of $450,000.
Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery is standing by the city's decision on the Thirroul painting, but admits he was somewhat torn because he thought the work "had merit".
"I thought it was an iconic image. The trouble is the location, and the way it was done," he said.
"Council's between a rock and a hard place on this one.
"I agree with the sentiments and I thought it was quite a pleasant way of depicting the relationship between us and Mother Nature, and [communicating] the need to connect with the environment and respect the earth, but unfortunately it was done in a way that was first of all, not legal, secondly it also would provoke people to come and express their alternate points of view, and I didn't want it to turn into a graffiti wall."
Cr Bradbery called on the artists to retain their original design and consider submitting it to Wonderwalls - the city's annual street art festival.
"We might be able to incorporate it into a location where it could remind everyone of the message they tried to get across," he said.
Debate surrounding the work comes as council moves towards forming a new volunteer-run Public Art Advisory Panel to provide it with independent advice on public art and creative strategies, policies, projects and programs.
According to the city's public art strategy, council hopes to make public art an integral part of the development process for major developments. New art will also "create a receptive, healing, social environment", enhance public space, assist in way-finding, represent local history, celebrate diversity and build civic pride, the council said.
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