Robyn Edie/Stuff
Bobby Hung of Auckland, known as ‘Bersta’, painting his mural in an alley off Spey St, near Thai Thai restaurant, as part of the South Sea Spray Festival.
Artists from as far as Japan and the United States are taking to Invercargill’s CBD walls with spray cans.
The South Sea Spray Festival is the brainchild of Invercargill-based graffiti artist Danny Owen; aka Deow.
He got a group of fellow artists to Riverton in 2018 to help brighten up the western Southland town with some street art.
Deow then teamed up with the Mīharo Murihiku Trust to carry on the concept in Bluff in 2021. Now 23 artists are in central Invercargill this week with spray cans in hand as they go about showcasing their artistic brilliance by painting murals on walls at 18 different locations.
Mīharo Murihiku Trust director Pauline Smith said the festival was popular with the public, as well as the artists themselves.
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Every artist who attended the first two festivals has returned for a third year, Smith said.
“They all say that the manaakitanga is one of the things that draws them back, they are looked after so well. So that’s nice, we like to think about southern hospitality as a thing.”
Another attraction for the artists was the fact they get the unique opportunity to be in the same place at the…