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- By Chris Harrowell, Eastern Times
Accomplished East Auckland artist Joel Nicholls has transformed a previously barren wall as part of a major project for KiwiRail, which he describes as his “biggest achievement to date”.
His colourful and eye-catching design adorns a large retaining wall adjacent to the rail corridor near the Parnell Station in Auckland.
The artwork, which is 249 square metres in size, is part of a trial beautification project by KiwiRail to reduce graffiti along the rail corridor.
Nicholls’ design is entitled Popn Birdz and depicts 28 New Zealand native birds in a vibrant pop-art style, with a bright matching background.
Among the numerous bird species included are the tauhou, whio, kōtare, riroriro, huia, hoiho, ruru, tūī, kea, kererū, kōkako, takahē, kiwi and kākāpō, among others.
“KiwiRail put out a brief for everyone for a bunch of walls,” Nicholls says of how he got involved with the project.
“I put a brief together with a full design for them. The brief was flora and fauna and New Zealand themes.
“I had my Popn Birdz, so I put together a Popn Birdz design and pitched that to them.
“They said they liked it, so they found another wall and approached me and asked me to quote it for them.”
Nicholls says the mural, which was created with spray paint, is 10 times bigger than any artwork he’s created previously.
It took him about seven weeks to complete due to frequent heavy rain in Auckland.
“Because of the weather, I was only averaging about two days a week [of work on it].
“The hardest part was battling and managing the weather. Like the timing of the sun hitting the wall to dry it, and the harshness of the wall with it being so rough.
“It was mainly just a battle against the elements.”
He says he’s stoked to see how it looks now that it’s completed.
“It’s my biggest achievement to date, but being the artist I am, the moment you finish you think you could do it bigger or better.
“I’m already thinking, ‘I could do it twice that’, even though it was the hardest project I’ve ever done.”
People can see Nicholls’ mural while travelling by train between Newmarket and Parnell on the Southern or Western Line, or from the Wilsons car park on Nichols Lane.
In late 2024, KiwiRail launched a trial beautification initiative across the Auckland network, identifying graffiti hotspots throughout the city that could be transformed into vibrant community artworks.
Its aim is to shift community perceptions from focusing on the complete eradication of graffiti in the rail corridor to celebrating and supporting artists through commissioning murals in high-visibility areas.
KiwiRail’s programme director for network readiness, Jon Knight, says: “Graffiti is an issue across the entire network, and although we will never eliminate it, we’ve seen positive results in different parts of the network, where murals have been done on an ad-hoc basis and are appreciated by communities.
“We’ve had excellent feedback so far from passengers, community members and stakeholders who have welcomed and appreciated the murals we’ve placed on the network so far.”
By the end of the trial, large-scale murals will feature at seven locations across Auckland’s rail network, painted by eight local artists and reflecting themes of nature, culture, and safety.
Nicholls and the other artists involved were invited to paint in the rail corridor by KiwiRail, and measures were in place to keep them safe at all times.
KiwiRail says entering the rail corridor without permission and protection is extremely unsafe and illegal.
