Local South Windsor Artist and TAFE teacher, Cameron Marbus, is looking to change the public perception of graffiti art.
As a TAFE teacher for Signwriting, Cameron partnered up with his friends, Andrew and Paul, to paint a free mural outside the back of FoodWorks in South Windsor. This particular street-art, like many of Cameron’s around the area, has been praised by the local public for its positivity and uplifting image.
“I live local and I’ve always seen the wall and asked Allen, the owner of Foodworks, do you mind if we do something for free? It was a great Easter weekend, we spent the whole thing laughing and doing what we love. That’s something that money can’t put a price on.
Another recent project over Christmas in 2023, was the revitalised Heritage Water Tank along the Windsor promenade in conjunction with Windsor Rotary club. This joint project sought iconic symbols from Windsor’s rich agriculture but also aimed to bring a sense of youth culture to the historical area.
“My biggest drive wasn’t money, but trying to prove what graffiti actually was. A lot of us are quite skillful in the art and have gone to build professional careers”.
However, Cameron acknowledged the stigma surrounding graffiti art, and with 27 years of experience, he has seen firsthand the lack of respect with tagging culture. “I don’t blame anyone for thinking what they do about graffiti, until they’ve met someone like me where I can kind of shake that grey area away.
Years ago, the public thought we were all the same. It’s been a hard 10-15 years, but my friends and I have all grown up here and believe that going around doing these free murals has really shifted the perception. Now, people come up to us and compliment our work, even offering free cold drinks!”
Winning the Hawkesbury Business Award in 2023 and 2022 for ‘Entertainment and the Arts’, Cameron runs his business Aerosol Obsessions and praises Graffiti for building his confidence. A lot of his work features an emphasis of ‘Lettering’, a street-art stylethat focuses on bright and bold text as the centrepiece for his work.
Changing the stereotype for young people, Cameron partnered up with one of his friends, Paul Zoeller from Paul.Riot to create the ‘Walls Out West Paint Jam’ in 2023.
This event aimed at celebrating Western Sydney Street Art for emerging artists and had a live painting of over 20 murals. At present, Cameron is also working with Blacktown Council to create a series of workshops to create safe spaces for young people to practice, with ambitions for more and asks people:
“Don’t just write us off as delinquent and don’t write the kids off either!”
You can visit Cameron and his fellow artists’ Minion mural at the back of Foodworks
South Windsor, on Mullinger Lane and the Water Tank Mural in Windsor can be found along the corner of Johnson Street and The Terrace.
