Bringing Colour, Culture and Compliance to Construction Sites
Sydney’s streets just got a little more vibrant. As part of the City of Sydney’s Creative Hoardings Program, a fresh suite of large-scale artworks has been released across construction hoardings in high-traffic precincts, transforming temporary fences into public art canvases that enrich the urban experience. (cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au)
The Creative Hoardings Program was established in response to community demand for more visual creativity in everyday surroundings, and provides local artists with a unique opportunity to showcase original artworks at a massive scale in very visible locations. Through this initiative, developers and builders are encouraged, and in some cases required, to apply creative artwork to their site hoardings, turning what would otherwise be a blank construction boundary into a dynamic addition to the streetscape. (cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au)
But delivering hoardings that meet City of Sydney council requirements isn’t as simple as picking a great design and printing it. Council mandates specific approvals, compliant art files, and adherence to construction and urban design standards. That’s where Mesh Direct steps in.
Comprehensive Hoarding Services Across the City
At Mesh Direct, we specialise in City of Sydney-approved vinyl hoardings, supporting builders, developers and project teams with the full end-to-end process, including:
- Council paperwork management: Navigating approvals and documentation so you don’t have to
- Artwork file preparation: Ensuring art files are compliant, high-resolution, and ready for print
- Premium vinyl printing: Vibrant, durable print quality that enhances both the art and your site’s presence
- Professional installation: Delivered to build standards and finished to look sharp throughout the project lifecycle
Whether you’re participating in the Creative Hoardings Program or simply need compliant hoarding graphics for a development site, Mesh Direct’s experts handle all the technical and compliance challenges — so your team can focus on what matters most.
2026 Creative Hoarding Collection:
Unlauded Legends by Pilar Basa.
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.
Garrigarrang Nura by Debra Beale
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.
Mermaids by Deborah Kelly
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.
Through Their Eyes by Redfern All Blacks
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.
16 Ways To Fold A Dumpling by Aimee Meng
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.
Fan of Feeling Portriffs by Thom Roberts
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.
Country: Water And Sandstone by Merindah Funnell and Emma Hicks
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, noticecolours 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.
The Gardens We Plant by Louise Zhang
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.
Quality That Stands Out
Our vinyl hoardings are produced with industry leading materials and printing techniques, designed to withstand the elements while keeping the artwork crisp, colourful and eye-catching. From concept to on-site installation, we deliver solutions that protect your site, comply with City of Sydney requirements, and contribute positively to the urban environment.
Partnering with Sydney’s Creative Streets
We’re proud to play a role in bringing the City’s new creative hoarding artworks to life, combining artistic expression with expert delivery and compliance. If your next project is in the City of Sydney and you’re looking for a seamless, council ready hoarding solution that covers everything from paperwork to install, chat with the Mesh Direct team today.
Brighten your site and simplify compliance – one hoarding at a time.
Sydney’s construction sites just got a serious upgrade!
The new artwork release under the City of Sydney Creative Hoardings Program is transforming blank site hoardings into large-scale public art, adding colour, culture and creativity to our streets.
But delivering council-approved hoardings isn’t as simple as printing a file.
At Mesh Direct, we handle the full process:
✔️ Council paperwork
✔️ COS-approved art files
✔️ Premium vinyl print
✔️ Installation to required standards
Our high resolution vinyl printing ensures every detail of the artwork is sharp, vibrant and built to withstand Sydney’s conditions, while remaining fully compliant.
Creative. Compliant. Seamless.
If your project sits within the City of Sydney, we’ll take care of everything from approvals to install.
