Regeneration
Image source Eugene Scrivener (Museum of Perth)
Artist: Joanna Lefroy Capelle
Asset Type: Mural
Year of Work: 1996
Location: Niches under Northern edge of Victoria Gardens, on Southern pier of Inlet to Claisebrook Cove
Provenance: City of Perth
Description: Twenty meters long by five meters high, the Niche Wall Mural by Joanna Lefroy Capelle is a narrative of East Perth history.
According to the plaque it traces the “evolution of this area from its origins in the Bibbulmun nation to the arrival of Europeans, industrial and horticultural growth, the phase of dormancy and finally renewal as a place of community and harmony for the human spirit”. In the absence of other more detailed information about East Perth’s history, the mural simplifies this story. Regardless of intentions, the artwork implies Darwinist “evolution” of the suburb. Aboriginal connections to the area are relegated to a “bygone” past. Some have claimed that the representation is “grotesque” and offensive.
The placement of the mural on a limestone wall (built to disguise the sewage pipes behind it), along with the abandoned blankets which regularly appear in front of the mural, suggest the harmony mentioned in the plaque is, in fact, a façade.