Telling a story, brick by brick

It may seem an unusual canvas, but after weeks of battling rainy weather Bathurst artist Calum Hotham's large-scale mural has begun to take shape.

Commissioned by Big Picture Fest, Hotham hoped to capture the story of modern Wallsend in his art.

"The Big Picture Fest wanted something that celebrates and embraces Wallsend for what it is, and a place to call home," Hotham said.

The mural features two teenagers from neighbouring Jesmond, Shahd Qaisanieh and Hossain Ebrahimi.

The large-scale artwork drew inspiration from a self-portrait workshop, 'Me, Now' that the teenagers did with social photography agency, And Then.

Ms Qaisanieh, 16, was born in Syria. She lived in Jordan for seven years before moving to Newcastle four and half years ago.

"We were taking pictures at youth group, and they told us they were going to pick some people to paint on the wall. I'm happy and excited about it," she said.

She said it was great meeting Hotham and she thought the mural was looking great.

"I'm proud of myself, I felt like maybe I didn't like myself and all that but after seeing it I was like 'I'm going to be proud of myself and my country'," she said.

"I'm also a bit nervous, it's the first time seeing myself up on a wall."

Mr Ebrahimi, 17, had only moved to Australia around nine months ago from Afghanistan.

He said he liked Jesmond so far and was settling in well.

"I got involved because I really like photography and modelling," he said.

Co-founder of And Then, Melanie Muddle said their photography workshop, 'Me, Now' facilitated a space for young people to create their own self-portraits.

"One of the most important things of running a youth photography program is to shift the power in the making back to young people," she said. "We took them through these mindfulness activities that got them to think about and focus on their week and emotions they might experience as a young person."

Ms Muddle said the self-portraiture aspect helped to articulate ideas of self-exploration and self-expression.

Hotham's mural plays with the motif of birds, and finding a place to find home.

One bird flees from Mr Ebrahimi's hands, the other perches atop Ms Qaisanieh's, and they are both flying back to a birdhouse, their home.

"There's the old Wallsend, which was more white Australia and we're merging it into the diversity that Wallsend has now," Hotham said.

"They wanted me to bring that together and tell a story."

Hotham started the mural on April 22, and he hoped it would be finished around May 7, weather permitting.