PUBLIC Silo Trail

Something quite unexpected lures people to farming country. Among the golden-hued fields, green pastures and rocky outcrops, renowned artists have created extraordinary, larger-than-life tributes to locals and landscapes. This four-day, 1,578-kilometre road trip starting from Perth is a tour through Western Australia’s Golden Outback and the South West open-air gallery, where colossal grain-silo murals evoke people and place. Northam, on the historic Avon River, is the starting point for Australia’s silo murals – the art movement began here in 2015. Explosive abstract patterns by Phlegm shoot up to the sky, bookended by men in their flying machines, HENSE’s whimsical tribute to the town’s hot-air balloon history. In Merredin, four 35-metre-tall murals are Kyle Hughes-Odgers’ ode to the town’s agricultural heritage. Geometric forms and rustic hues conjure the people, buildings and surrounding landscape on these epic silos. Heading deep south into agricultural heartland, Katanning trades silos for street art. Once humdrum electrical transformer boxes and laneways now burst with vibrant colour, a varied collection of murals in a mash-up of artistic styles. As the salmon gums and salt lakes give way to Pingrup, a triptych of 25-metre-high silos pays homage to this tight-knit town’s backstory. Evoca1’s photorealistic murals capture the tenaciousness and spirit of Pingrup’s farming community. For the beautifully evocative silos at Newdegate, Perth local Brenton See drew inspiration from the region’s endangered wildlife, including the rare red-tailed phascogale and mallee fowl. After a detour to Wave Rock, Ravensthorpe’s silos burst into brilliant bloom, with Amok Island’s spectacular 360-degree mural of a rare banksia. Ravensthorpe itself sits within one of the most diverse botanical regions on the planet – the Fitzgerald Biosphere. The final scene on your art adventure is Albany, where street art abounds, and Yok and Sheryo bring a little critter – the ruby sea dragon – to towering life on the grain silos. *All videos have been produced by Peacock Visuals.