Murals
Above: Kēreru & Nīkau for Marutūāhu-Ockham, 2025.
At the site of the Maungārongo development in Point Chevalier, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.
Erin Forsyth has been painting walls since the late 90s. Starting to paint graffiti at a time just before some of the first ‘legal walls’ were produced by her peers. In 2001 she opened an aerosol art supplies store known as ‘Creep’ later renamed ‘Out of Order’. This led to her first legal commissioned mural.
She continues to paint at larger than life scale drawing on influences from pop surrealism and her wildlife and botanical studio practice. She is one of three female artists featured in the Street Art Documentary ‘Dregs’.
Of the mural artists born of the graffiti movement still producing murals today she is the only one painting exclusively with acrylic. Using traditional freehand painting techniques (and often traditional grid planning) for her initial compositions.
Each mural champions the ecological significance or unique biological diversity - plants, fungi, animals - of the places they are painted.
Inviting the viewer to experience intimate moments of the natural world. Offering connection with a refreshed sense of wonder.
Situated throughout the country, they further emphasise the Tauhou concept. Celebrating the unique ecological and biological diversity of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Left and below: You Are the Forest, 2025
Kōtuku, white heron in breeding plumage in kahikatea swamp forest.
Creative Bay of Plenty , Tauranga City Council, Lighthouse Productions. Tauranga
Eyes Without a Face, 2024
Teteaweka (Macrolearia angustifolia)
South Sea Spray Wāhine festival, Southland District Council. Waihōpai, Invercargill
Erin made the switch away from aerosols in 2017.
Her mural ‘Tread Lightly’ (pictured here) for Graffiato (an annual street art festival in Taupō) was her first full scale public mural in this style