Star Weekly is looking back at the best stories of last year and this is one of them.
The Footscray community has collaborated to celebrate Greek culture in the west, with the unveiling of a new mural.
The team at Greek Youth Generator has been working on ‘Footscray’s Hidden Hellenism’ for the last two years.
Project manager Dean Kotsianis said the mural, which was unveiled on Saturday, September 9, celebrates the suburb’s forgotten Greek history.
“We conducted a large- scale community consultation to encapsulate storytelling in a mural,” he said.
“This mural uses real photos, real memories and real people to show the realest representation of that story.”
The community consultation involved Dean and the team meeting people in their houses, looking at family archives and collecting imagery to then compile into the mural.
“We commissioned a design which we thought celebrated their successes and some of their hardships , things that are undeniably part of Footscray’s Greek history.“
Spanning 250 square metres, the mural represents 10-12 families.
“It really is owned by the community, some of the families who donated are incorporated, some were from the broader Greek community, and alot through our personal lives.“
The mural can be found in Yewers Street, Footscray.
