In Lightning Ridge, artist John Murray is funding a street art project that is converting mining agitators into a new open-air gallery. Murray is an award-winning Australian artist based in the opal-mining town and is well known for his acrylic-on-canvas work.
Murray is offering artists a blank canvas on discarded equipment in what is described as a striking crossover of street art and opal history. So far, six agitators have been painted, with plans for at least 14 more. All of the equipment used in this project was donated.
"It's an opportunity to do free-form street art," he told ABC News.
"The agitators are all old, abandoned mixers from the opal mines. There are no gatekeepers on the project, so they can paint whatever they want.”
Murray added: "Nowhere else in the world would be able to do something like this. There's just not that many agitators anywhere else in the world that could be given to something like this."
Six of a planned 20 agitators have been painted by visiting artists, including Manda Lane, Joanne Travis, James Wilson, Lukas Kasper, and Oli Ruskid, as well as artwork completed by John and his wife, Viki Murray.
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