Kiwi graffiti and mural artists have called for more cities in New Zealand to paint the town in street art.
Tauranga has led the way, with seven freshly painted walls and a street art festival launched on Monday night.
Street artists Askew One is a Kiwi now making it big in New York. His dream is for cities to give artists the freedom to create art like he has done for Tauranga.
"If you leave it too much to a community or committee, they're going to tell you to do something really stupid - like they're going to say paint a picture of this historic building on this historic building," he told Newshub.
"You want to challenge people more."
The crowd at the launch of the Paradox festival shows that street art is becoming more palatable - but in what form? Muralism yes, but graffiti? Maybe not.
Yet it was graffiti and lettering was where Askew One was most comfortable, and whether the community cared for that art is not what he craved.
"I think actually that's what we enjoyed about it to be honest - the fact that it wasn't for everybody. Graffiti in particular was never a people-pleasing thing."
No-one ever imagined it would grace the walls of a council art gallery, the irony expressed in a mural by husband and wife team Charles and Janine Williams.
"This represents that journey - for quite a long time we were contained and then we transition into this place where it's a little more acceptable and there's this freedom to express our art form again," Ms Williams said.
Mr Williams said they had a mission.
"We had a mission to go into these areas that were deemed the ghetto, to put these beautiful pieces of art," he said.
Where some see Tauranga, they see a canvas.
Newshub.
