City Forests Melbourne

Public art is a powerful way to share a message, but the experience for the audience can be relatively passive, with no means for the audience to further involve themselves in the story. To meaningfully bring a Converse City Forest to Australia, we chose to partner with a relevant cause to innovate the traditional public art space and, in doing so, create an opportunity for Australians to see Convere's message and make a positive difference in the fight against climate change.

City Forests Melbourne

We partnered with All Star member and Gumbaynggirr artist/activist Aretha Brown to paint a mural that not only cleans the air, but sparks conversation around Indigenous urban identity and the importance of elders within the community.

The mural, located at the Converse Fitzroy store uses air purifying paint that absorbs the equivalent air pollutant of 128 trees in inner city Melbourne. Globally, Converse has activated these sustainable murals from Singapore to São Paulo and ‘planted’ the equivalent of 8,033 trees (and counting).

Known for her activism as well as her art, Brown was named the Prime Minister of the National Indigenous Youth Parliament in 2017 and uses her creativity as a vehicle to bring awareness to issues facing Indigenous and First Nations Peoples.

The design for this Converse City Forest Mural draws on multiple themes. It is a celebration of Aboriginal matriarchs and signifies the integral role of elders as a pillar for community, whilst also acknowledging the role of young mob and how Indigenous culture exists within modern life.