The street is our canvas – a day out and about in Melbourne with my camera, shooting Melburnian’s and chasing down graffiti artists – asking them “Why graffiti?”

@WRTMFC said that graffiti gave him a freedom not found else where and with certain streets and lanes allowed for tagging, it gave him an opportunity to express himself. This tag was about giving someone else the experience of becoming a graffiti artist. He said that the police were not too impressed but added that “people always fear what they don’t understand.”

@dnart – a self taught artist of the last 3 years, said that drawing in the streets gave her an opportunity to come across and engage with people that she would not otherwise meet and she likes to see peoples reactions to her drawings.

Follow them both on Instagram with the names above to see more of their work.

I love a good art gallery but there is something about the street that you cannot beat. The smell, the interactions, the responses of the public in the open air gallery; it is very different to the stunted atmosphere of a national gallery that many of us will go to in our lifetime. There is an unmistakable talent in graffiti which often goes unappreciated, not least the efforts to which some must go to get their pieces in some of the places you find them in. Look high, look low, smell and taste the essence of street art.