Bold new community mural by Aboriginal artist comes to life as part of Kununurra PCYC’s Youth Week celebrations

Kununurra PCYC has been given a splash of colour as part of the WA Youth Week festivities. Young people, their families, and community members came together to work on the colourful mural, located outside Kununurra PCYC’s Youth Hub, inspired by local young people and the Kimberley region.

Balanggarra and Yolngu artist, Molly Hunt, created the artwork after consultations with local young people during safeSPACE^TM sessions at the end of 2022. She was inspired by key cultural themes suggested by the children and teenagers, such as basketball, music, fishing, dancing, sunsets, boabs, TikTok and the locals’ favourite snack, salty plums. The young people’s input was a critical part of the project as they were able to cultivate a strong sense of pride and ownership of the artwork.

Kununurra Centre Manager Brodie Ward said, “The mural’s impact goes far beyond being something that brightens our youth space and looks awesome. It is a direct representation of Kimberley Indigenous youth, designed in direct consultation with them by a young local Indigenous artist, and painted by them. It has established our youth centre as a bright, welcoming, and culturally sensitive space. Somewhere where our young people feel safe to be themselves.”

The mural is already a hit with the kids. Brodie explained, “During the week, many young people walked past the mural with their friends complimenting it. Comments included, ‘That’s so sharp,’ ‘That painting is deadly,’ and ‘Salty Plum girl!’.”

The 15-metre-long mural took six days to complete and was a real community effort, especially as the 100 cans of paint that were ordered didn’t arrive in time due to freight delays! Luckily, leftover spray cans from the Darwin Street Art Festival were generously donated, and the local Mitre 10’s paint supplies were cleared out to allow the painting to go ahead on schedule.

The artwork is Molly’s largest public mural and her first piece that was designed and painted in collaboration with young people.