Heavyweight murals put graffiti on the ropes

Knock-out murals are covering the walls of an Aranui boxing gym in a bid to deter tagging.

A likeness of celebrated champion boxer Muhammad Ali covers one wall of the A-Town Boxing Gym and Kiwi professional heavyweight Joseph Parker steps into the ring on another wall, pictured from the waist up.

Jacob Root puts the finishing touches on his gym wall mural.

The artist behind the eye-catching work is 18-year-old Jacob Root. 

Jacob is carving out a career as an artist and came to the Christchurch City Council’s attention for his distinctive, colourful work on Chorus utility boxes for the Council's Graffiti Programme. He also works as a sign-writer.

Jacob was inspired to start making graffiti-style art after visiting Los Angeles and the Venice Beach area, which is known for its murals, on a family holiday a few years ago. “That made my creativity start to flicker,” he says.

He is self-taught and uses stencils made out of heavy cardboard to create the work which is spray painted on to the wall. His style is to use “heaps of colour and the stencilled look”.

The Muhammad Ali portrait is based on a famous photograph showing the boxer standing over his defeated opponent, and captures Ali’s famous quote, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” with the painted insects on each side. 

His artwork often features famous icons so painting murals of two well-known sporting heroes has been very enjoyable even though he doesn't know much about boxing, Jacob says.

A-Town Boxing Gym Manager Jamie Roberts had been working with Aranui Neighbourhood Policing on ways to deter graffiti vandalism and decided to transform the gym's walls into artworks.

The Council’s Graffiti Programme has supported the project by providing acrylic paint and liaising between gym owner Jamie Roberts and the artist. Orion Sponsorship and the Council have provided some funding for Jacob’s time.

Graffiti Programme Team Leader Val Merryweather says the work is fantastic. "We think creating an artwork like this will resonate with young people. It is a really effective way of deterring unsightly tagging and instead, inspiring pride and  a sense of community."

Mr Roberts, who has been coaching youth in the community for nearly 20 years, says the murals have already had a huge response. "The young students think it's really cool. It's an artwork that people can be proud of and we've been wanting to do it for some time. The Council and the Police have helped us make it happen."

Another part of the wall will be open to anyone in the community who wants to create paint a positive art work on it, but only on the condition that they ask for permission and are not involved in any tagging elsewhere. "We want them to learn that artists can express themselves positively and get a good reputation like Jacob has," Mr Roberts says.

A community barbecue to celebrate the new murals is planned for this Wednesday June 27 and the Neighbourhood Policing Team and Linda Keall from Keep Christchurch Beautiful are organising a Wainoni Park clean-up for the same day.