Tasmania Road Trip: Sheffield Murals

Following the hike up Mt Jerusalem in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park, I ended up in a small town called Sheffield. With no real agenda for the day and no idea what this town has to offer, I got up and did my usual routine in the morning. The plan was to stop by the Visitor Information Center as soon as it opens. I was surprisingly up early despite the long, tiring, and physically demanding few days I've had both in Cradle and Walls of Jerusalem. I arrived at the car park way too early and noticed impressive murals on display.

Sheffield, dubbed as 'Town of Murals', holds an annual mural art competition that brings artists from all over the nation and the world. The paint-off which is conducted in Mural Park lasts for a week where nine finalists interprets a themed poem for the major prize. These dedicated artists aim to bring the region's history to life, and tell the stories of early pioneers. A true picture from the past.

THE 2017 POEM

"Through the Eyes of a Child"

by Karen Beattie

The world is a playground
wonderful and wild.
What would you see
through the eyes of a child.

THE WINNERS

Each of the nine winning pieces had accompanying short descriptions/concepts by the artists that I included underneath each photos. Please enjoy :)

#1 NEVER FORGET by Tom Cosic & Eve Soemardi

Innocence always gives way to Experience. Adult viewers are reminded to never forget their own child's perspective on life and the world. From the eyes of a child, the possibilities appear boundless, restrained only by imagination. The painting encourages viewers to remember the joy of innocence found in youth.

#2 LOLLIPOP LAND by Josh Foley

Simplicity - of colour movement - energy - fluidity - imagination - craziness...play - illusion - fantasy - confectionary - la la land - lollipops - sugar coated wonderland - the idea of three D - unhindered human vision - the colour spectrum - rainbows - prisms - fractals...the sublime the picturesque - the beautiful - pop - fun - laughter - happiness...pattern - what would a child see in this landscape?

#3 WONDERFUL AND WILD by Marc & Debbie Spijkerbosch

When a child's imagination run wild and free, the world holds no boundaries for whatever might be...

#4 CHILD'S HORIZON by Nikolay Dimitrov & Daniel Dubarov

Highly Commended

What it would be to see through a child's horizon? A question which answer we can find in how our kids express their visions and impressions, most often in their drawings. In our project, we depicted a little boy, looking at the horizon. He is holding a bucket with toys, a symbol of play. In his range of view, he sees life in different forms.

#5 IMAGINE by Gren Freeman

In the safety of the bedroom the young child's imagination wanders...images that are real and things that are imagined blur together to make an amazing world

#6 JUST WAITING FOR YOU by Julian Bale

Come and see life through the eyes of a child...climb aboard, there is a place for you.

#7 SELFIE by Lindsay Gardam

Whatever I do. Where ever I may be. It all must be recorded for my friends to see. Now the digital world is in digital form. Through the eyes of a child this is now the norm.

#8 WHEN I GROW UP by John Eathorne & Leanne Tamas

Visitor's Choice Award

We loved our dogs like brothers. Our rocket bikes flew us far. Our worlds of magic wonder. Were never reached by car. We filled our life with living. Wild grins, scabbed knees, and noise. Now mirrors show us older men. But this ones for the boys.

#9 MAKE-BELIEVE by Annette Matthews

Judge's Choice Award

Inspired by the heroics of Batman a boy stands brave and bold ready to take on injustice. His steely disposition shows he's ready for the challenge (but he would also partake in a little fairy magic.) A girl, who needs no encouragement to be a fairy princess, would also 'cape-up' as a courageous super hero to help her brother.

FAVORITES, THOUGHTS, ASPIRATIONS

I loved each one of them but my favorite would have to be the 'Lollipop Land by Josh Foley' for its vibrant colors. Lindsay Gardham's piece 'Selfie' spoke a lot to me as well.

Our world today is not the same as I remember growing up in a small village in a province in the Philippines. We are more connected than ever before. The big, big world I once knew is 'smaller' than ever. Everything is now easily accessible in this digital world we live in. We share more with friends and family in various forms of social media.

I document anything and everything with more technologies (i.e. smartphone, DSLR, GoPro, etc) than I can handle. Which raises the question, 'Do we really need all these techy stuff in our lives?'. Sure it's nice to capture a moment and have memories to last a lifetime. But in our efforts to snap everything, are we missing out on the real experience? How many photos is too many? I am guilty of snapping one too many photos all the time. Which is why this 2018 I aspire to only capture moments that speak to me. To focus more on quality and less on quantity. To shift my love for photography as a hobby to possibly becoming a professional photographer.

Living a nomadic life full of adventures for the past four years, this seems to be a suitable path to take. An idea thrown in by family and friends that I have been avoiding all those years as I don't want my passion to turn into a job. But I think I am ready to give it a try. I want to grow as a photographer and want to learn more about photography this coming year which is why I plan to invest more on it. I am long overdue for a camera upgrade and looking into buying a full-frame mirrorless instead of the traditional DSLR. Anyone here works with mirrorless? Which brand do you use? Or do you prefer DSLR more? Why? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the comments below.

BACK ON THE MURALS

The Mural Park has more to it than the nine finalists. With still plenty of time to kill, I walked around and checked out every single one of them before the flock of tourist buses arrived. Sharing with you just a few of my favorites :)

The town was also decorated in murals, like the ones below.

A fruit & veg store

Tasmanian Wilderness, Cradle Mountain

Tasmanian Tiger

Sheffield

Forth Falls, 1990

A RELAXING DAY?

After spending a bit of time going around town, I walked back to the Visitor Information Center and spoke with one of the staffs. At this point, I was quite content with having an easy day at the Mural Park. Then I learned there are a few hikes not far from town. I was particularly interested in tackling the summit of Mt Roland. So, did I rest and drove out to the northwest as originally planned? Or did I stick around and ascend Mt Roland? Find out on my next post!

As always, thank you guys so much for reading my stories. I hope you enjoyed reading this one as much as the first four I've written about this road trip. In case you missed them, I included the links below: