Is the Hosier Lane attack vandalism or street art?

Melbourne’s iconic street art venue, Hosier Lane, has been targeted with a spray-paint attack. Was it a retaliation for the lane’s commercialism or vandalism?

11 Feb 2020

Gina Fairley

Visual Arts

Tourists taking photos of the street art in the hidden laneways of Melbourne, 2019. Image shutterstock.com Photo Wade Machin.

Over the weekend, Melbourne’s iconic street art venue, Hosier Lane, was targeted by a gang armed with spray-paint.

Purportedly, six people wearing balaclavas used spray guns to ‘paint over’ aerosol and stencil artworks.

A video of the event was posted to Instagram on Sunday (9 February), which went viral.

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Join Now Login

Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina