Hello Shalom is a personal project honouring our global multicultural society. I started painting the mural on the afternoon of Saturday 13 December 2025 and had completed half the underpainting when the tragic shooting occurred at Bondi Beach on Sunday 14 December. I continued painting, questioning how such violence could pervade our calm country. In hindsight, the timing felt like it brought additional poignancy, transforming the mural from an unintentional message of solidarity into a heartfelt response of recognition and respect — one that affirms everyone’s right to celebrate their faith and culture.

Lettering and murals have a unique power to promote acceptance by making language visible, joyful, and shared. When words from different cultures appear side by side, they invite curiosity, turning walls into welcoming conversations. Murals can offer hope without needing explanation. Through colour and typography, words become a visual language that feel inclusive and human. In this way, lettering becomes a connection across cultures and humanity.

My hope for this mural was to recognise many languages but specifically the Jewish greeting of Shalom alongside English hello. I painted the 3m x 2m mural over two days, experimenting with different techniques such as underpainting, drop shadows, outlines and gradients. For Witam, I used my Newy colour font; Sveiki, Ciao and Shalom are my own handwriting, Jingeri uses DCDynamic font, and hei is the fun Cheesecake font.