Meet the Artists

Three emerging artists, a grade three primary school collective, a reimagining of an original painted tram from 1986 and more: introducing this year's exciting Melbourne Art Trams artists.

Nyein Chan Aung is an industrial designer and artist who has created The Late Supper, an interpretation of the iconic painting The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. His illustration depicts people having supper, however features unknown customers at Melbourne’s renowned Supper Inn Chinese restaurant instead of Jesus Christ with his apostles.

Kent Morris is a Barkindji man based in Melbourne who believes Australia is currently experiencing the evolution of a collective celebration and acknowledgement of Aboriginal culture and stories. Morris' artwork is constructed from a single photograph taken while walking on Country. Apart from basic editing, digital information has not been added to, or taken away from, the original photograph.

Vandal is a Melbourne-based mixed media stencil artist, spray canner, paste-up and sharpie marker artist. Her work is set to brighten tram traveller's day with the colourful Marbaamarbaa garingali (multi-coloured native dog) taking people on their daily adventures around the city.

The Beaconhills Year 3 Collective have represented Melbourne in their tram design as a welcoming place through the gestures of our friends. The class have created a series of body shapes in a similar style to Keith Haring, with a focus on unity and harmony in the community.

Sophie Westerman is a Melbourne-based artist who works with printmaking to create architectural landscapes. Her tram design is compiled from a series of colour etchings titled I think we were friends once, maybe, representing connection but also isolation.

Gene Bawden is an academic and practicing communication designer and his work Yours, mine, ours is a design that celebrates the ambitions for diversity and inclusion within the city of Melbourne. Abstractly represented in the stripes of colour, pattern and geometric blocks, are letters that spell out this proclamation.

Nusra Latif Qureshi references the traditional art of South Asian miniature painting in her design. Her art work features a floral pattern from an antique French textile and pays homage to the title of Melbourne as the Paris of the south. The red in the design celebrates the vibrancy and richness of Melbourne's cultural life.

Lesley Dumbrell is recognised as a pioneer of the Australian women's art movement of the 1970s. Her original tram design, painted in 1986 was inspired by a trip to Italy where Dumbrell was drawn by the colour, costumes and music of a festival. For over 40 years Dumbrell has been refining her technique of geometric abstract painting, injecting colour, light and emotion into an often precise painting style associated with the Colour Field Painters of the 1960s.