Rockingham community urban art trail stopping graffiti in its tracks

An urban art trail across the City of Rockingham is helping to reduce graffiti.

The Baldivis Youth Space, Port Kennedy Skate Park and now the Safety Bay foreshore have all been adorned with murals by local artists and community members as part of the City’s sPARK interactive urban art trail.

Art at each location comes to life through smartphone app EyeJack, as well as through interactive Snapchat filters based on each mural’s design.

Rockingham artist Samantha Prentice designed and painted the Baldivis Youth Space mural with students from Settlers Primary School, Tranby College and Rockingham Senior High School.

The Port Kennedy Skate Park mural by Paul Deej and the Safety Bay Foreshore work by Kambarni were both influenced by feedback from the community’s young people.

The art trail aims to combat vandalism where graffiti regularly occurred. Instances of vandalism in each location have decreased dramatically since the murals were installed.

Since the Baldivis Youth Space mural was completed in October 2020 there have been just two incidents of graffiti removed by the City.

The Port Kennedy Skate Park, previously a highly vandalised area, has reported three graffiti incidents since work was completed in November last year.

Now the final mural has been launched at the Safety Bay foreshore.

Rockingham Mayor Deb Hamblin said the project aimed to build community engagement with those locations in a positive way.

“Each mural aims to spread the message that ‘community safety starts with you,’” Ms Hamblin said.

“Since the sPARK project was launched the City has seen considerable improvements at these locations. We hope to see these trends continue well into the future and encourage residents to report incidents of graffiti.”

The sPARK interactive urban art trail was funded through a $50,000 grant from the WA Police State Graffiti Fund.

WA Police community engagement division superintendent Dom Wood said police were committed to working closely with local governments and not-for-profit organisations to reduce incidents of graffiti vandalism.

“The WA Police Force welcomes collaborative partnerships, such as that with the City of Rockingham, to implement strategies to report, remove and prevent graffiti vandalism,” he said.