Artists paint the town for Cup

Posted: Wednesday Jul 19, 2023

The FIFA Fan Festival™ starts tomorrow and work will begin on a street mural to be painted by six incredible artists outside the Municipal Chambers in the Octagon, featuring the poem Intuit (Steele Roberts Aotearoa, 2018) by our very own Iona Winter

Artists paint the town for Cup | Otago Daily Times Online News (odt.co.nz)

A suite of special projects is set to splash football fever across Dunedin’s centre as the city celebrates hosting the Fifa Women’s World Cup.

The Dunedin City Council yesterday announced a range of public art offerings to complement the previously announced Fifa fan festival beginning tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, six artists would begin work on a mural outside the Municipal Chambers, in the Octagon, the council said.

Kelly Spencer (known as Kell Sunshine), Aroha Novak, Devon Smith, Xoe Hall, Miriama Grace-Smith and Gina Kiel would incorporate Iona Winter’s poem Intuit into a painting.

From 5pm until late on the days the fan festival was open, there would be artwork by Devon Smith, Becca O.Shea, Kimi Moana Whiting and Josie Mason projected on St Paul’s Cathedral.

Artist Ephraim Russell was behind four "lightboxes" that each featured local women connected to football, including Football Fern Annalie Longo, representative player Hannah Langsbury, sports photographer Clare Toia-Bailey and player Zara Pratley, who starred in the city’s video bid to host the tournament three years ago.

A second mural would be painted in Anzac Ave on July 30 (when Switzerland plays New Zealand) by street artist Graeme Hoete, also known as Mr G, the council said.

The Octagon projects would be in place until the end of the tournament in Dunedin.