Incredibly beautiful photos of the west by Warren Kirk

Today a guy called Warren came to our exhibition. I'd make contact with Warren a few months ago, but today I'm glad he reminded me of his photography work on Flickr which focuses on the western suburbs.

These are just so awesome - rich in detail and colour, and with a real humanity. Plus a few ghost signs along the way:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70980743@N03/

A sneak peek at the big map and board for my signwriting project, soon to be displayed at a Yarraville cafe

The image below is a scaled-down first mockup of an arial map of the western suburbs of Melbourne, with records of Lewis & Skinner signwriting jobs from those areas placed around its perimeter.

The arial photos come from a 1945 arial survey undertaken of Melbourne and available here: http://services.land.vic.gov.au/maps/photomaps.jsp

This map will be printed as a two-metre wide display for Lady Moustache cafe at 84 Gamon Street Yarraville, alongside a bunch of original documents and signwriting equipment. The exhibition, which will run from September 30 to October 4, will also feature live signwriting from Tony Mead on the wall of the cafe. More info to follow soon.

 Lisa (project coordinator) is still to put in lines from the signwriting items to places on the map - but you get the idea :)

Signs of heavy industry

Today I had some time up my sleeve before picking up my daughter from a party in the west, so I headed to Newport, Altona and Brooklyn with my bike in the back. Loved it out there in these desolate  back lots, ex-quarries and factories, the kinds of places I used to explore for years before I'd ever heard of ghost signs:

Yarraville, on the way

Newport, on the way

Newport

Newport 60s shopping strip (or, yes, circle, as it surrounds a roundabout). Now full of awesome Middle Eastern shops.

Same shopping centre - Lebanese grocery.
Not ghost signs but the best shop display I've ever seen (next two as well) 

Altona

Altona - only the "O" remains

Those are also from the backblocks of industrial North Altona:

Now, the industrial backblocks of Melbourne's very own Brooklyn. it's not exactly Williamsburg or Crown Heights, but has its own special charm:

This site is misleading. Despite the abandoned look, it's now home to a hip construction company making modular eco-housing. Gentrification is coming Brooklyn's way - a few lots for sale on the way have been rezoned for residential development.

Nice traditional ghost sign to finish off with. In the bit of Yarraville next to Brooklyn.