For his new mural on the Thirroul Telstra building, street artist Jack Miller Hendry took inspiration from the story of Saint Michael, the archangel the parish is named after.
“It’s right next to the church and the Catholic school, so I googled who St Michael was. He’s the guy known for slaying Satan,” Jack said.
This is Jack’s biggest mural yet – and it combines graffiti with traditional Renaissance paintings. St Michael is often portrayed holding a sword, and Jack's mural is no exception.
“The Old Testament is like an action movie. It’s bloodthirsty. I’m not religious, but I thought painting wings and swords seemed like fun.”
The Bulli-based street artist also takes inspiration from popular culture and his murals' locations. For example, at Bulli PCYC he painted a sport-inspired mural.
“I just kind of want people’s eyes to widen when they see my art. I always want to make something to look at – not something that’s going to blend in,” he says.
“It’s like making a landmark. If someone’s giving directions, they could say ‘oh, there’s the big mural of this obscure thing there.”
Through his work, Jack aims to include the interests of everyone in the community, children and adults alike.
“It just makes people happy,” he says.
“When people walk past it, it puts a smile on their face and all the kids like it. It’s kind of bringing generations together, bridging the gaps.”
Jack moved to Wollongong in 2020 from Lismore, where he studied visual arts at Southern Cross University. It was there that he started to embrace street art.
“A local street artist up in Lismore put a workshop on in 2016,” Jack says.
“It was on a Saturday morning, and my girlfriend mentioned it to me, and I just turned up. Soon after I was like ‘Oh, this spray paint is actually sick!’ and I never looked back.”
Nowadays, Jack runs Bulli Art Kids (BAK), a free community group, and teaches kids to paint.
“People donate their fence, or their wall space, and we can paint something. It gives the kids something to work towards, and they get better and better and better,” he says.
“If I started spray painting when I was their age, I’d be aeons ahead of where I am now,
“If they want to do good graffiti – like straight art, that’s cool. But if they want to do something else, it’s safe to try – they’re not having to try and paint a train or something like that.”
Jack is collaborating with community members, hoping to re-paint the bridge wall opposite the St Michael mural. The wall has been vandalised and weather-worn over time.
“It’s going to take a while, but I want to do this as a community thing. If we can get the school, the footy club, the church and the community on side, it might put some pressure on and we can get things moving,” he says.
“The artwork that was there has been covered in vandalism and things. People might worry that it’s just going to happen again, and it’s hard to get them out of that mindset.”
Keep up with Jack’s work on Instagram (jackmillerhendry_91) and Facebook (Jack Miller Hendry)