Making the Richmond Whale

Local artist Makatron, known for his iconic animal graffiti around Melbourne, recently won a grant to paint the north side of Richmond Station. So he came up with the concept of a mechanical whale and gathered three other established Melbourne graffiti artists: PLEA, DEM 189 and OTIS to bring their styles to the project.

Makatron wanted to portray the insides of the as whale as part machinery, because we as humans use machinery everyday it becomes part of us: cars, phones, computers. Each organ is painted by one of the four artists. The heart has become an entirely separate creature.

Makatron said while he was painting this whale, with mechanics on the inside, he realised the trains running above were exactly the opposite, mechanical outside and biological inside.

Word and images by Leila Koren.