Murals & me

Creating memorable murals is one of my favourite things to do. I have painted the majority of my murals completely freehand - drawing or painting directly onto the wall. Some work requires greater accuracy and in those instances I will use a traditional sign writing technique involving a paper pattern or projector if the scale requires.
I have painted murals for homes, small businesses, corporate clients, the Department of Conservation, city councils and festivals around the country. I am always excited to paint and ready to travel. Please get in touch if you have a wall that needs some love and project you would like to discuss email info@erinforsyth.com
Image: Freehand painting the smaller kōtuku for *You Are the Forest*. For Creative Bay of Plenty & Tauranga City Council’s inaugural street art festival, March 2025. Thanks to Lighthouse

My research, studio and mural work are closely connected and form a singular practice. My murals focus on highlighting the unique ecological characteristics of the location where they are found. In some instances this may be a single plant or animal, while at other times they refer to an ecological past. Many of these works also feature a host of species to illustrate the diversity of life found in a single area. The scale in which things are represented often plays on a reversal of human perspective of the environment, emphasising our relationship to and reliance on the natural world.

Roots

Using only brush and acrylic allows me to produce fine detail as well as more painterly and expressive mark making and blends. Of the active graffiti artists of Aotearoa in the late 1990s and early 2000s still painting walls today, I am the only one working solely with brushes. I like to think these roots established painting walls out of love, have blossomed into my mural career and are evident in the artworks I create today.
Image: Freehand puawhananga, puawānanga, (*Clematis paniculata*) for Nicola Jane, George St Tattoo parlour Ōtepoti, Dunedin, April 2025.

*Towards Ocean Light*

*Towards Ocean Light*, for Titan Marine, 2024
Painted offsite in my studio and installed. 6 panels of marine ply 2.4 x 1.2 wrap around the public facing exterior wall of the Titan Marin offices. The work features numerous native marine and migratory species that have visited Tīkapa Moana, the Hauraki Gulf including the endangered Takahikare-raro, NZ storm petrel (*Fregetta maoriana*). Bold 90s inspired shapes and layers of transparent colour sanded to soften provide the rythym these interconnected species move to.
Installed Wynyard Quarter, Completed March 2024

Night Moves

A larger than life ruru (*Ninox novaeseelandiae*) moves through the night. In cool and warm tones the mysterious ruru is both hunter and defender. An ill omen during the day but a natural defender of the night. The surrounding landscape has been modified for agriculture but the ruru still visits. The silhouette of a farmhouse in the background shows the lights are still on.
Freehand brush and acrylic 6m High x 24m Wide.
For *South Sea Spray, Winton Walls*, Waihōpai, Invercargill, February 2024

Kākā in Kirikiriroa

A mural split across three buildings featuring two larger than life Kākā birds. Kākā are slowly returning to the area after extensive conservation efforts. Native plants and kahikatea forest create a silhouetted background. Kahikatea forests once covered the area. The colour palette of of the Hamilton City Zoo which is on the same road the mural is located is derived from the underwing of the kākā and so informed the brief. Commissioned by Hamilton Council and managed by BOON. This work was unusual for me as the main elements were painted with aerosol. We’d ordered cans as a contingency plan for wet weather and I marked up the outlines with them for speed, then continued with them for consistency. Completed February 2023.

Sumatran wildlife and otter enclosure signage, Auckland Zoo, 2022

Life sized depictions of species in programmes supported by the Auckland Zoo in Sumatra (Sumatran Rhino, Tiger and Orangutan) and depicting the behavior of otters. Text traditionally hand-painted by sign-writer and artist Nigel Roberts.

Erin Forsyrh Auckland zoo mural otters.jpg

Te Hāwere-a-Maki, Goat Island mural, Department of Conservation, 2022

Native species of the oldest marine reserve in Aotearoa and surrounding area. Produced in consultation with Ngāti Manuhiri and the Department of Conservation.

Photo credit: Images supplied by World Rugby via Getty Images

Dance of Nations, World Rugby, 2022

This 24 metre mural is a celebration of the unifying aspect of women's rugby located on Shortland St, in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland's central city.

Twelve figures (symbolic of the teams coming together for the 2022 Women's Rugby World Cup) appear to move along the wall in unison, each posture lightly meeting the one before in a sort of dance. But the movement and postures directly reference the movements commonly found in players of rugby. Figures are larger than life and stylized to emphasise the grace, strength and power of the players. Part of Support Our Sisters: The Art of Rugby - street artwork celebrating the Rugby World Cup.