Valentin. aka Ntb
“The one on the right, the name of the guy is Naman,” Valentin said.
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“So he’s a French reggae artist, he passed away, sadly, a few weeks ago.
“He’s from Britian originally, and he’s been travelling to Jamaica, learning the English and learning the Jamaican.
“Then he started to sing Jamaican, but like a reggae-side Jamaican, matching the French, and then since that, he just did so much featuring with the reggae scene, like with all the big artists that he could ever find.
“He passed away a few weeks ago, and I think it’s the first time that an artist has passed away and hurt me inside for once.
“So (this is) just like a good memorial for him, and just for people to know him and know his music because he was very happy, and before he passed away, he just asked people to keep playing his music, and to be happy, not be sad for him.
“So that’s the whole idea behind it.
“I do mostly stencilling, so I learned from ‘Blak le Rat’, they call him the ‘Father of the Stencils’, the one who created the stencils in the 80s-90s.
“He’s French, and he’s my best friend’s father, so that’s how I learned... I’ve been doing it for 12 years now.
“And yeah, just starting in Melbourne and came here with my daughters — my wife and kids and that’s where I’m based now.
“I think it’s good that the city is doing something like this.
“(This is the first time I’ve) exhibited in the Benalla Street Art Festival, but I used to do some galleries in Melbourne as well... galleries and all in the street art lane as well.
“I’ve spent six or seven years in Melbourne before and decided to move away from the city and be in this town.”
Yan Yan Candy Ng
“I’ve always done art as a kid, I guess because I used to struggle with social anxiety, so it was a way to escape from talking to people,” Yan Yan said.
“There’s always art as a subject to study in primary school or high school, and it was always the one I’d get the highest score.
“And growing up as Asian is like, ‘oh, you can learn how to draw, do music and stuff’, but the moment you say you want to be an artist, they’d be like, ‘no...’”
“But I guess after my final exam for high school, my parents sort of gave up on me being an accountant, a lawyer... because the score is not high enough — art is the one that is the highest.
“But then being an artist doesn’t really seem to have a career because I grew up in Hong Kong, right? I also didn’t know what would be going on.
“It’s like you only get famous if you died, like Picasso, and then things start selling.
“So, I was like I would just do graphic design because it has more (options).
“I went to Swinburne at Melbourne and I worked as a graphic designer for a few years before taking that gap year just to do other things.
“And illustrator was one of the things I wanted to try out, and it’s been like 10 years.
“I enjoyed (graphic designing) at the time, but I guess at that point I didn’t really see myself going further, like climbing the ladder...
“It’s the first time (I’ve painted at the Benalla Street Art Festival), but I have done another mural festival before, maybe two years ago in a space in Melbourne.
“I’m really honoured to be part of this... this town is so, so nice, it’s like everyone has some different talents.
“It’s actually quite a creative town.”
Benalla P-12 students
While well-known artists flocked to Benalla for the festival, the community’s own creative geniuses took to the streets to share and express their own artistic talents.
When Early Bird Cafe owner Caryn De Fazio asked if there were any students interested in painting the cafe window at a Coffee Connections meeting — an opportunity for local businesses to catch up — Annette Borradale from NE Tracks LLEN sought out local schools for some participants.
Ms De Fazio wanted to give a local student the opportunity to display their talents and showcase what young people can do when given the chance to.
In response, Avril Rowdell from Benalla P-12 decided to sign up, and alongside her, two more P-12 students, Mikayla and Ruby, spent some time designing some street art, with the help of Benalla Rural City Council business development manager Catherine McMillian.
Terry Mack from Paint Place offered to sponsor the students, supplying mixed paints and prep materials they might need for their artworks.