Design for Advocacy: an unintended response
🩵🩷Hello Shalom began as a simple greeting — a way to recognise and honour the multicultural world we live in. When I designed the layout, I intentionally nestled the words together to reflect how different cultures live side by side. The mural features languages from places I’ve travelled to, as well as places I hope to visit one day.
Lettering murals hold a special kind of power. By making language visible, joyful and shared, they can promote acceptance and spark connection. When words from different cultures appear together, walls become conversations. Through colour and typography, lettering becomes a bridge across cultures and our shared humanity.
Unknowingly, I painted this mural in the hours before the Bondi Beach shooting. When the news broke, I felt deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life and shaken that such extremism had touched Australia. It also reminded me that violence has long affected communities around the world — including First Nations people since colonisation, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and Palestinian people in the Gaza region.
Because of this, I delayed sharing the mural online. At that moment, it felt insignificant compared to what people were experiencing. Instead, I followed the unfolding stories — the bravery shown in Bondi, the everyday heroes who stepped in to help, and the wave of compassion and solidarity that followed. Seeing people across Australia and around the world stand with Sydney was incredibly moving.
In that context, the timing of this mural took on new meaning. What began as a message of cultural recognition shifted into something deeper — a heartfelt response grounded in respect, and a quiet affirmation that everyone deserves the freedom to celebrate their faith and culture.
From a technical perspective, this piece was also about exploring lettering styles and techniques. I experimented with drop shadows, outlines and gradients to give each word its own voice. Witam uses my Newy colour font, Sveiki, Ciao and Shalom are my own handwriting, Jingeri uses DCDynamic, and Hei is set in Cheesecake.
For me, Hello Shalom reflects the power of colour and meaningful language to transform public space — even during unexpected and emotional moments in time. My hope is that this mural continues to spark inclusivity, care and peace. Sending peace and joy to you.
