Twenty days out from the second anniversary of the February 28 2022 flood, the Back Alley Gallery team has revealed a Tinnie Army mural is planned on a 49-metre wall in the CBD in celebration of the incredible deeds carried out two years ago.

Holly Ahern and Erica Gully told the Lismore App the Tinnie Army commemorative project will be a community collaborative effort and will be created on the wall of the Metropole on Larkin Lane.

"We were contacted by Dr Bridie Cullinane (Founder of the Green Innovation Awards) in August last year who had a lot of discussions in the community about wanting a mural that commemorates the Tinnie Army and reached out to us which we're very thankful for," Holly said.

"For us to be able to showcase this in a public space is really important."

"It's close to our hearts as well being community members directly affected by the flood as well," Erica added, "We were probably the only house in North Lismore that wasn't affected because we're up on a hill behind the Lismore Showgrounds. So we became a temporary evacuation centre and my partner was part of the civilian rescue. It's something that's really quite empowering to be a part of on a personal level and to help lead."

"It's not without its complexities, because it's a really sensitive subject, and we would like to accommodate all the multiple stakeholders that are involved. And that includes the community, our sponsor, which is Summerland Bank."

John Williams, the CEO of Summerland Bank said, "We are proud to be a part of this amazing project that honours the Tinnie Army and their heroic actions during the 2022 floods. As a local bank, we care deeply about our community and its resilience in the face of adversity.”

Street art doesn't last forever, it does tend to have a shelf life. However, Erica explained that smaller regional centres can have murals that provide a legacy so can last a long time.

Hotel Metropole owner Nick Lake has given permission for the mural to go on his wall down on Larkin Lane, off Keen Street which means the Back Alley Gallery will extend beyond Carrington Street where it starts at the 'Hands' sculpture. Something that Holly knows a great deal about as she was one of the creators along with Eden Crawford-Harriman that provided one of the iconic flood photos from 2022.

"In the past, we've been contacted by council to potentially create an artist trail that continues through that laneway (Larkin) to the proposed or the official site for the new skate park. So, that it kind of creates a thoroughfare for pedestrians."

"And it makes sense for the Back Alley Gallery to not just be in the Eggins Lane precinct. We see it as being a CBD-wide project or initiative," Holly added.

(Holly and Eden strolling down the Back Alley Gallery. Photo: supplied)

"There's talk in the past as well as connecting The Quad and those cultural centres like the Conservatorium through town."

Holly and Erica are seeking community input on what is a sensitive project. They would like to hear from anyone in the community, especially those involved in the Tinnie Army, as to what the content of the mural would be.

"We've got some ideas around it but it's sort of a chicken and egg sort of situation in terms of we need to do our community consultation and workshops to be able to ascertain what it is that the community wants to get involved in. How in-depth different community members want to participate in the actual production of the mural."

The first access to public input went live yesterday in the form of a public survey.

"We feel a public survey is the most accessible way for people to respond. We don't want to force anyone to be involved, so if people want to respond to that brief and want to respond to those questions and be involved, they can and if they don't want to, they don't have to."

Saturday, March 2 there will be a community event to commemorate the second anniversary of the big flood, Holly and Erica will be there running a drop-in session to further community input on the design.

Local schools have had some initial input as well.

"We did an education package that went out to a lot of the schools in Lismore at the end of last year and we had a lot of submissions from students and Wyrallah Public School was fantastic. They sent us a lot of the children's work that responded to our brief and it was quite interesting, actually, it was very literal. I think with children there's so much purity and innocence in the child's mind that they were drawing the mud and they were drawing the boats and a lot of really beautiful messages of thanks to the Tinnie Army and we'll hopefully use some of that information in the mural as well.

"And a really big part of the process is that we want the community to be able to continue to contribute to the murals. So we're not entirely sure what that looks like yet, but there will be spaces in the wall where the community can come and write their own messages and that will be continual process."

(Erica supervising some Back Alley Gallery work. Photo: supplied)

Holly and Erica made it very clear that the new Tinnie Army mural will be a celebration not a memorial.

"It's a celebration of our community and the efforts that were made in terms of supporting and rescuing each other. I've shoulder-tapped a few individuals who are involved in the rescue, because I felt comfortable enough to do so, to see if they would be forthcoming with their shared experiences. The majority don't want to be in the limelight or seen as heroes. They just did what they did and would like to think that anyone would do what they did in the same position."

While the initial goal was to complete the mural by February 28 2024, Holly and Erica soon realised that this project was too important to rush. They needed to take their time, plan well, get community input and ensure the end result is something they and the Lismore community can be proud of and proud to display to tourists that visit our city.

"We're going to run this public survey for maybe six weeks, so that will take us into the middle of March and we will have had that workshop at that point."

"At that stage, we'll assess everyone's input. We've started making a couple of designs for it, but we have stopped because we want the community input. We don't want to put these preconceived ideas about what it will look like, on two people, so we'll assess where we're at, and hope to start painting at the end of March."

"We do need to do a lot of prep on the wall. It's a 47-metre wall and there's a lot of graffiti on it right now. So, we'll be preparing and cleaning that site and then hoping to get some community volunteers to help us paint it, which will be another really beautiful step in this process where people who want to be involved can."

"Ideally, we'll have it finished by April and The Metropole has been very generous and is going to help us launch the project. There will be more details to come later."

At this stage of the Tinnie Army mural, Holly and Erica would like as much community feedback as they can, so click here to provide it via the online survey or look out for them on Saturday, March 2 during the Flood Anniversary event at Riverside Park (more information to come).

Back Alley Gallery Website 

https://www.thebackalleygallery.com/ 

Back Alley Gallery Instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/the_back_alley_gallery/