Joanna Kambourian is one of around ten artists bolstering the back alleys of Lismore CBD as part of the Refresh Project.

The initiative, in conjunction with The Back Alley Gallery, Lismore Council and Lismore Paint Centre have provided artists with a blank canvas to create new, original works to ‘refresh’ the iconic laneways over the coming six weeks. 

Ms Kambourian said the Refresh Project was supposed to happen last year at ‘Eat the Street’ yet due to COVID the project unfortunately had to be postponed. 

“It’s really awesome because it’s lining up really well with the Lismore Laneways project, that the Lismore City Council are doing.

“We had to wait until the roadworks in Eggins Lane were done and now we have ten artists coming in, maybe more, doing new pieces.”

The Back Alley Gallery posted on their Facebook page that they are ‘excited to be bringing bold and bright new art into the bag after a long hiatus that has seen a lot of unsolicited work and tagging take the shine off Lismore’s laneways.’

The Back Alley added that Lismore Paint Centre have assisted in buffing the walls so that artists have a blank canvas to work on.

“This is an Armenian tile design of a peacock,” Ms Kambourian said. 

“My cultural heritage is part-Armenian and so most of my artistic practice encompasses an interest in my cultural heritage.

“I work with lots of different symbols, designs and patterns that come from that culture.

“The peacock is an iconic symbol in Armenian culture so I went with it.”

Lismore artist Beki Davies was invited to participate again in the Back Alley Gallery to be part of this year’s artist line-up.

Her piece is based off a lino block print she has scaled up.

“I’ve scaled it up and I’m still trying to get that linocut feel to it. 

“I like that idea of transferring mediums to different spaces and seeing how they work on a larger scale." 

Originally a tattooist for fifteen years, Ms Davies studied at both TAFE and Southern Cross University and has had a recent exhibition at Lismore Regional Gallery.

“The linocut style is quite graphically influenced from tattooing so there is iconography of swallows, bold lines, bright colours.

“I take a lot of inspiration from the natural world. 

“Any day is a good day to have a paintbrush in your hand,” Ms Davies said.