Hello Kitty Town Darling Square

Precinct Activation

CURATORIAL & Production TEAM

Authority Creative & Eddie Zammit

PARTNER

Sanrio, Haven

CLIENT

Lendlease Darling Square

photographer

Holly Hawkins

AN OUTDOOR GALLERY

The world’s most loved and iconic cat ‘Hello Kitty’ and friends called Darling Square home for 3 months between 29 January – 29 April 2022. In March 2021, Authority Creative and our partner Eddie Zammit identified Darling Square as the perfect opportunity for a Hello Kitty precinct takeover. Together with Haven and Sanrio, we presented the Hello Kitty Town concept to our longtime client Lendlease who helped to bring our idea to life. There, Hello Kitty Town welcomed thousands to join its public art exhibition and immerse themselves in a vibrant outdoor setting as we brought a taste of Japan’s popular culture to Darling Square. Throughout the course of the exhibition, food retailers in the precinct transformed Hello Kitty into edible creations and Hello Kitty even made an appearance.

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THE ARTISTS

Anchored by a 5 metre custom designed Hello Kitty inflatable, Hello Kitty way finding, and noren flags, the outdoor exhibition featured some of the world’s most well known graphic designers, illustrators and street artists. Each creative has added their signature flair to a suite of loveable characters from Hello Kitty and friends. These artworks capture the playful and fun nature of Hello Kitty Town for the enjoyment of all!

GEORGE ROSE

GEMMA CORRELL

DXTR

LAUREN CARNEY

TRAVIS PRICE

JUSTINE MCALLISTER

SOFLES

SAHIL ROY

MEL STRINGER

BEI BADGIRL

STEPHANIE CARTLEDGE

MIGHTY SHORT

GEORGE ROSE GEMMA CORRELL DXTR LAUREN CARNEY TRAVIS PRICE JUSTINE MCALLISTER SOFLES SAHIL ROY MEL STRINGER BEI BADGIRL STEPHANIE CARTLEDGE MIGHTY SHORT

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JUSTINE McALLISTER

A Melbourne artist specialising in large-scale mural painting. McAllisters bold and vibrant works, which respond to the unique spatial qualities of each site, are an amalgamation of her background in fine art and her love of bold colour and design. She interprets relatable stories and experiences from communities she works within to connect people to place @justinemcallister

SAHIL ROY

Melbourne-based, multi-disciplinary artist Sahil Roy’s abstractual works are filled with texture, colour and expressive layering. His gestural approach brings a physicality to his work leaving people to feel the residual motion and movement of his stylistic expression @sahilroy___

GEMMA CORRELL

Gemma Correll is a UK cartoonist, writer and illustrator currently based in California. Correll’s speciality in hand-drawn comics and character design withholds a strong narrative basis alongside her characteristically charming humour. Her work takes a witty, heartwarming and thought provoking approach to commenting on current times @gemmacorrell

DXTR

DXTR is a Berlin-based artist and illustrator, and founder of the artist collective THE WEIRD. DXTR translates his bold, vibrant style between wall, canvas and print, pumping fresh design-work into the world through all available channels. He defines his work as pop surrealism, mixing pop culture elements with a graffiti attitude @dxtrtheweird

TRAVIS PRICE

A widely established artist in the Australian Illustrative industry, Travis Price’s career spans over 20 years. Acclaimed by local and international clients such as Sony, Virgin and Santa Cruz, he is honoured to now be Hello Kitty Town’s feature artist for the 2022 Sydney launch. Price’s work has been transient throughout his career spanning advertising and apparel brands with a clean street aesthetic @travispriceillustration

MEL STRINGER

Mel Stringer is an Australian artist and comic creator based in the Pacific NorthWest, United States. Her work is hard not to love, featuring cheeky and relatable characters. Mel’s style  can be described as body positive, playful and empowering, with a strong focus on women @melstringer

SOFLES

Sofles is a self taught Brisbane based graffiti artist who travels the globe attacking murals of epic proportions. He transforms everyday cityscapes into moments of emotion and awe by harnessing his technical skills which move between spray painting, acrylic brush painting and digital illustration. His works encompass detailed graphic abstraction layered against bright realism @sofles

A BRIEF HISTORY OF HELLO KITTY

For the community,

Made with love.

Authority Creative x