Artists Sharon Billinge and Ann Woo, connecting to the community thorugh the Street Stories Project
Walking down Erskineville Road towards the train station at night, the sign for the Hot Dog Cool Cat Pet Salon pierces one’s peripheral vision from a distance. The glare it gives off is exacerbated by the glossy, reflective tiles of the vet next door.
As you approach the intersection of Morrissey Road, however, this light seems to soften. Another few steps and it dims completely beside the thousand-watt smile of a young Olivia Newton-John. The singer and film star beams out from a mural painted two years ago by local artists Sharon Billinge and Ann Woo in the wake of Newton-John’s death.
Above the portrait, steely angular letters spell ‘Xanadu’ and beneath, a lyric from the cult film’s titular song – “a million lights are dancing and there you are, a shooting star.” For a few metres around the wall, the night recedes.
The Xanadu mural is just one of many public art pieces created by Billinge and Woo in Erskineville since 2020. Woo, who has lived in the area for over 25 years, spearheaded the ‘I Love Erko’ movement, which began as a series of murals around the suburb, but has since made the jump to tote bags and stickers which can be found all over the inner west.
The project began during COVID, says Woo, and was an effort to “keep everyone’s spirits up during lockdown.”
Similarly, Billinge’s Blue Wren Walking Trail, a Banksy-esque stencilling and mural project, also sprang from a desire to strengthen community bonds during the pandemic.
“It was a tester project”, says Billinge. An attempt to create both “a little treasure hunt” and sound the alarm about the dramatic fall in numbers of small bird species across the city.
Last Christmas, the pair unveiled their latest collaboration, a mural on hot pink vinyl commissioned by design studio the Frost Collective. Running the length of the Erskineville Project housing development on Mitchell Road, the work features portraits of the people, places and animal companions that are iconic to the suburb.
“There were people selected that you would see on the high street every day,” says Woo. “People who run some of the local businesses. Then there were people that we just knew and have lived in Erko for a long time and have a deep connection with the place.”
The work gave Billinge and Woo the chance to research, interview and photograph some of these mainstays of their community, which was a unique experience for both of them.
“You would never get a project opportunity like this usually”, says Billinge. “Usually it’s a community gloss-over sort of thing. It’s like ‘Oh, can you community up this thing?’ This was like they were really upfront about saying we want to do it properly.”
And the results are glorious. On Mitchell Road, a slash of Florida-pink neon streaks away into the distance, muscling the night out of its path. As you approach, the irrepressible wiry nest of Miss Nanna Miss Koori’s huge hair is the first thing to catch your eye.
A little further down, pink tongue hanging out, Tango the poodle seems poised to bound over to visitors. Closer still and small snippets of memories swim into view. Friday night fish and chips at Erko Oval. A funeral procession held for a closing record store.
But this is only the first iteration. For the second part of the project, Sharon and Ann have called for submissions from locals describing their favourite person, place or memory in Erskineville. Selected entries will then be added to the existing mural in the coming months.
Before unveiling last year, Billinge and Woo remember feeling trepidatious about how their work would be viewed by Erskinevillians.
“You can put something out and think it’s the most benign, lovely thing ever,” says Billinge, “and someone will be like ‘My cat died when it looked at this.’” But the feedback has so far been overwhelmingly positive. Woo seems more delighted by the less tangible ripples it’s sending through the suburb.
“A local business owner said that her customers are calling her by her name, having seen her on the mural, which is so lovely,” she says. “It’s strengthening the connection in the community.”
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