Hosier Lane in Melbourne’s CBD has fast become an iconic lane-way renowned for its amazing wall art created by some of the country’s most talented graffiti artists. When we headed to Melbourne over summer I knew we had to walk down Hosier Lane at least once.
But was it all it’s cracked up to be? I imagine that my views on Hosier Lane are going to be a little controversial and many of you will disagree, but I always like to put forward our honest opinion about the places we go.
On walking into Hosier Lane we were immediately assaulted by the smell of stale urine. It was also crowded with Master R suggesting that every tourist in Melbourne had converged on the lane way to take happy snaps. There were garbage bins brimming with a weeks worth of rubbish and there was some reluctance to use these further with litter lining parts of the lane.
Whilst there were sections were the wall art was amazing, it was quite sporadic. It felt like every graffiti artist and his dog and swept in over night and fought for a little space to tag their unreadable tag and paint over other artists’ work. The poor art is starting to take over the good art. I was disappointed to note a large number of phallic symbols tagged over great work, totally disrespected the hours of work put in to some of the artwork that people would be going to see.
My feeling, from our brief visit, is that the lane-way has become a free for all. It seems any artist can paint a tag here or there, spray some words and call it art. There is no apparent curation of exceptional pieces, and when they are created, tags appear at their borders rather quickly. I do know that part of the beauty of the lane-way is its ability to transform every day. I just hope that it can crawl back some the amazing art in the process rather than just becoming a big eye sore. 
What are your thoughts on Hosier Lane? Did you find yourself amazed at everything you saw down the lane-way?
Hosier Lane is a small stroll from Flinders Street Station.
Oh my god yes don’t smell anything in Hosier. Nose closed as soon as you turn the corner. If you go at the right time you can see art at its best. My son took me up high, “no youre not going by yourself Mum” and looking down it seems surreal. Yeah, definitely some horrible things and really messed up art down there but some days you just find that secret bit of international artists and finding artwork is fun too. Next time you come by let me be your Hosier Guide. All the best in your travels x
I suspect I’ll be back later in the year. I always like to give things a second chance
Where is this art work located
YOu need to go to Hosier Lane in Melbourne (directly across from Federation Square)