Melbourne – Several murals across Balaclava in Melbourne’s inner southeast are being painted over after public backlash, due to accusations of the artwork depicting harmful stereotypes of the Jewish community.
The murals by artist Mic Porter were painted above several stores on Carlisle Street, including a Coles grocery store.
Mr Porter was one of several artists who have been part of the council’s “People of Balaclava” project. The council said the project involved using local artists to paint and “activate” upper areas of 20 buildings in the area, and included “depictions of many of the characters of Carlisle Street”.
City of Port Phillip Councillor Marcus Pearl said the council had received “many, many phone calls and complaints” from residents of the area.
“I am deeply sorry for the offence this has caused,” Mr Pearl told Sky News. “I can confirm that the City of Port Phillip has commenced the process of removing the mural.”
This art style is not unusual for Mr Porter, who graduated from the Victorian College of Art in 2003 and has been posting artwork in this style on his Instagram page since 2017.
His work can also be found along the St Kilda Lower Esplanade, which was part of an anti-graffiti project earlier this year.
Mr Porter has strongly rejected the claim he was depicting Jewish people in his artwork.
Bailer, artist and project manager of the “People of Balaclava” project, told Yahoo News that calling Mr Porter “antisemitic” for his work is “ridiculous” and “a blatant lie”.
“[Mic] has lived in the area for over 40 years and his artwork has been featured heavily on a large scale throughout the area for over 20 years,” he said.
David Southwick, Liberal MP for Balaclava’s electoral district Caulfield, said that he and a number of his constituents found the artwork “highly offensive”.
“It certainly reminds people horrifically of the horrors of the past and imagery like that that was used during Nazi Germany,” he said.
Zeddy Lawrence, executive director of the Zionism Victoria lobby group, said that while she could appreciate that the artwork was Mr Porter’s style, it was “incredibly unfortunate that his comically grotesque images which are redolent of monstrous anti-Semitic caricatures appear as street art in such a notable Jewish neighbourhood.”
“Someone, somewhere may have made a very poor judgement call as to what would be appropriate to feature on the facades of Carlisle Street,” she said.
In a statement, Mayor Heather Cunsolo apologised for dividing members of the community.
“We realise that regardless of the artist’s intentions, the portraits have deeply upset and divided members of our community and for that we apologise,” she said.
“The current conflict has understandably heightened sensitivities and Council has no desire to add to the pain and distress many of our community are already feeling.”
