Mural festival returns to a pleased Rochy

“I was chuffed. It was a nice feeling. I wasn’t expecting it, but it was a thrill,” he said.

His piece, Impossible Dream, was a self-portrait surrounded by things he wished didn’t exist in the world.

“It's basically about trying to get rid of all the things in the world that we don’t really need, like weapons and garbage and money and different things,” he said.

“It’s not meant to be gloomy, and I hope people haven’t taken it that way. I wanted to make a statement because so many things in the world need to be removed, even if that’s an impossible dream.”

Echuca artist Maryann Jenkins won the people’s choice vote and Marco Pennacchia was highly commended.

Mr Pennacchia won the mural festival competition when he took part in 2022, and his work this year represented the veil between the dream world and reality.

All of the artists talked about the joy of being involved.

“I felt emotional getting to the end of the week,” Helen English said.

“It’s been a great event in a great town with great artists.”

Ms English’s piece drew inspiration from the fairytale The Little Mermaid and her own story of moving from the United Kingdom to New Zealand.

Organiser Judy Anderson said she was thrilled with how the event went this year.

“It went absolutely fantastic. We didn’t have any problems at all with anything or anyone,” she said.

“I think everyone was really, really happy. The weather was good and we couldn’t be happier with how it all worked out.”

Although she will be a part of organising it next year, Ms Anderson is looking for different people to carry it forward in the future.

“We are planning on it being our last one as the current committee and we’re looking for younger people if they want to take it over,” she said.

“We’re approaching our 10th mural festival and we reckon that’s a pretty good effort and a good time to hand it over.”