What do you call a mural that is nine-storeys high and 40 metres tall?

Bigger than B-I-G.

Attached to the side of the former Top of the Town building in Victoria Street Darlinghurst overlooking Kings Cross, Dylan Mooney’s “Still Thriving” mural is a political statement and part of a series about love in queer communities.

Dylan is a 27 year-old, partly blind, Indigenous artist who live and works in Meanjin, the traditional name for Brisbane.

He is originally a Yuwi, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander man from Mackay in north Queensland.

He studied art and achieved a Bachelor’s degree in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art from Griffith University.

He says he enjoys the freedom to express himself and discuss important ideas through art.

He has to manage many art installations at once which can be challenging.

His KX artwork is titled “Still Thriving” and took one week to complete using a team of muralists suspended on a platform high above the street on the side of the building, all in the name of art.

The mural, originally designed to be backlit at night, narrates his personal relationship experience.

It is partly auto-biographical and depicts two men standing gazing out at the viewer or towards each other in tender, shared moments under the halo of a nimbus.

“Their identity, desire, and representation are brought together to promote discussions of art that include acknowledgment of works created by members of groups that have often been overlooked or under-represented in the broader art world, deftly illustrating issues affecting the queer community’s lived experience in ways that are poignant and very much of our moment,” the artist says.

Dylan is depicted in his own mural.

The faces are painted with dots, a reference from his language group, the Yuwi.

Sydney World Pride received $85,000 from Sydney Council’s Art & About programme for the mural which also received funding from the Australia Council.

Dylan is now currently working on a solo exhibition in Paris and a large-scale project for an arts festival in Australia.

By Andrew Woodhouse Heritage Solutions