Cultural support & funding

Creative hoardings program

Aims to transform the visual impact of construction sites in our area.

A man in a blue jacket and jeans stands on a city pavement in front of a large mural of red and white tree branches printed onto a construction hoarding.

Our creative hoardings program provides opportunities for artists to showcase their work on a large scale in very visible locations.

The program was created in response to community demand for more street art to enliven the streets of Sydney and bring creativity into the everyday.

Developers with construction sites must cover their hoardings in art by a living Australian artist, or historical images relevant to the area where the hoarding is located. Developers can commission their own artist, or they can use artworks licensed by the City of Sydney, free of charge.

Artworks commissioned by City of Sydney

To date we’ve run 4 call-outs for artwork concepts.

The artworks below form our latest collection released in 2026.

A series of colourful, abstract nature-inspired patterns featuring bats, birds, flowers, berries, dingoes, snakes and leaves in shades of yellow, orange, green, blue, and black.

Unlauded legends

The glowing sun casts golden hues across the bush. A flurry of movement exits a cave. Southern bent-wing bats leave their roosts, travelling vast distances in search of food. Only 15g each, these tiny bats are supreme pest control managers.

This artwork is a celebration of some of our country’s less-loved native characters. From the maligned ibis to the not-so-scary southern bent-wing bat, the raggedy dingo and the shy red bellied black snake, this playful rogues gallery invites passersby to pick a new favourite Aussie animal. Each species has their own important role in our ecosystems. The artist welcomes people to consider our connection with native wildlife around us and explore our own role in the environments we live in.

Artist: Pilar Basa
Patterned illustration showing sections with fish, jellyfish and turtles on a black background.

Garrigarrang Nura

This work celebrates First Nations and non-First Nations people healing country together. Through nurturing an environment that honours a diverse community, the design speaks of First Nations people who have lived in harmony with ever-changing ecosystems, fostering a deep connection and spiritual lore to ensure protection of both land and sea country. Seasonal changes in plants and animals have guided communities about how to protect, when to hunt, gather and to hold sacred ceremonies for thousands of years. First Nations people have fished around Sydney waters, encountering species such as flathead, bream and flat sea urchins whose tube feet allow them to clean the ocean floors and play a vital role in their ecosystem.

Artist: Debra Beale
Illustrated underwater scene with various fish, octopus, squid, shark, coral and mermaids on a blue ocean background.

mermaids

This artwork is made from paper collages depicting mythical beings based on ancient stories of human-fish hybrids: sirens, tritons, mermaids and some as-yet-unnamed species of merfolk. They swim, socialise, hunt, court and play in a magical waterworld shared with local populations of the fragile Sydney Harbour ecosystem: a seahorse, starfish, seaweed and a seadragon, photographed by Richard Ling. Fish and plankton can be glimpsed too. There’s a wobbegong, pufferfish, flathead, garfish, cephalopods, crustacea, and a lost tropical fish swept up in a cyclone thousands of kilometres north and carried by unruly currents. Included is a rare sighting of the artist’s favourite animal, the hard-to-believe silver-and-cerulean glaucus, who comes from where the east wind blows and eats the blueness from bluebottles. You’ll spot sponges and shells, scallops, shrimp, an especially fancy crab and eggs of many species, holding the future tight.

Artist: Deborah Kelly
Abstract artwork featuring colourful, intricate patterns, dots, lines, animal shapes, and footprints on a dark background, inspired by Aboriginal Australian art styles.

Through their eyes

This piece represents the city as seen through the eyes of children. The junior players from the Redfern All Blacks Rugby League Football Club co-created the image during art workshops facilitated by proud Worimi and Bundjalung artist Taleena Simon. Taleena is also an accomplished athlete who has proudly represented the club, winning several major competitions throughout her career. She represented NSW in the inaugural Women’s Holden State of Origin in 2018, she played in the NRLW with the Sydney Roosters and the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Competition with South Sydney Rabbitohs. She also represented Australia in the Women’s Rugby Seven’s team. The footprints, travel symbols, wavy lines and dotted patterns illustrate the junior players and their journey through Gadigal country (Sydney), capturing the landmarks and experiences that, to them, define the spirit essence of their city.

Artist: Redfern All Blacks
A collage of various handmade art objects, including illustrated plates, fabric sculptures, and doll-like figures, arranged in a horizontal sequence against a light background.

16 ways to fold a dumpling

In Chinese culture, food is not mere sustenance, but also riddled with power and social dynamics. This work unwraps the layered meaning of consumption in domestic space and also the influence of kawaii culture from Japan. The pervasiveness of kawaii aesthetics has contributed to the increasing commodification of sex to some extent. Imprinting the  bishōjo’s (美少女, beautiful girl) face on a dumpling suggests that if we don’t consume her, the representation of eros, we will be starved of desire. The  bishōjo who surrounds herself with cute objects thus becomes both the consumer and the consumed. To fold a dumpling is to honour the women who take care of their families, to affirm female agency and kinship, while also materialising the messy relationship between eros, thanatos and consumerism.

Artist: Aimee Meng
A row of colourful abstract faces painted in various styles and bright colours are displayed side by side against a plain background.

Fan of Feeling Portriffs

A series of enigmatic portraits depicting 24 distinct emotions as seen and felt by the artist – happy, sad, anxious and silly. The works draw on a long standing practice that sees him identify, express and regulate emotions through illustration.

Artist: Thom Roberts
Abstract floral illustration with large blue and purple flowers, organic shapes, and bold lines in blue, orange, and white tones.

Country: water and sandstone

Ground yourself here.

Why is Country so important, it holds us. It holds everything. It encompasses everything. The song of birds that have carried our language, or do we carry theirs? Country speaks through relationships.

Be held in layers shaped by wind and water.
Feel sunrise and sunset, notice colours shifting, as stories gather.
Ripples of deep time.
Country shapes all relations.

For us water feels calming, emotional.
Any body of water. It feels like it cleanses.
A carrier of stories and pathways.
Connecting us all.

Artist: Merindah Funnell and Emma Hicks
Colourful abstract painting featuring oranges, blue leaves, clouds, and rectangular blue window shapes, with a collage-like arrangement and vibrant, overlapping elements.

The gardens we plant

This work delves into the profound interplay between physical and spiritual healing, using botanical symbolism and mythology as its foundation. Inspired by the nurturing presence of market gardens and communal courtyards – spaces that provide both nourishment and connection – it weaves together themes of resilience, memory, labour and care. Plants become living bridges between body and spirit, echoing ancient medicinal traditions, acts of giving, and the enduring power of cultivated land. Through this lens, the work reflects on what it means to truly live, rooted in growth, reciprocity and quiet strength.

Artist: Louise Zhang

Creative hoardings artists

Get to know the artists who’ve contributed to our creative hoardings program since it began. They share the inspiration behind their works and reveal the joy of seeing their art super-sized around the city.

Artist opportunities

Sign up to hear about expressions of interest and other creative breaks.

Sign up

Developers – approvals and artwork guides

Before installing hoardings and scaffolding on worksites you need to gain approval from us. Here’s some handy information.

DecorativeCulture & creativityCreative city
decorativeStrategies & action plansCultural strategy 2025–2035Published 6 February 2025