Australia is hosting one of the world's biggest public art festivals in a bid to highlight dangers facing Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.
The tourist city of Cairns is hosting the Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans festival, previously head in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
As part of the festival, artists from around the world and Australia have transformed giant water towers, shopping centres, and alleyways into spectacular works of art inspired by the ocean.
"The Great Barrier Reef is a World Heritage site and it's in danger [so] what we really want to do is give people a reason to care," festival organiser Akira Biondo said.
"We won't protect what we don't love, so that's really the first step we want to take through our art.
"We like to say we are bringing the oceans into the streets around the world and building connections, no matter how far away you live from it."
Starting conversation with public art
Far north Queensland artist Caroline Mudge said she had followed the festival for years and it was a dream of hers to be involved.
It took her 24 hours to complete her giant work, Fringe Dwellers, featuring a Mother Earth figure, mangroves, and sea creatures.
"This is about starting a conversation," Mudge said.
"A lot of people don't like to go to galleries because they find them intimidating.
"Public art is accessible and will be a constant reminder that we live in one of the most pristine environments in the world."
Germany-based brothers Christoph and Florin Schmidt travelled to Cairns to transform both a giant water tower in the northern suburb of Holloways Beach and a major shopping centre.
But the task involves more than a bucket of paint.
The Schmidts are using cherry-pickers to complete the art works, which will become a permanent feature in some places, while other businesses will keep the art for a limited time.
Art works a 'stepping stone' to change
Ms Biondo said the artists involved had the opportunity to spend a day on the Great Barrier Reef, diving and snorkelling, for inspiration.
She explained that more than 300 murals had been painted across the world over the past decade through the Sea Walls program.
"We've seen communities embrace the artwork and take it as a stepping stone to enact change," she said.
"That's been extremely empowering and hopeful for us as an organisation."
Ms Biondo said as a result of the festival, the island of Cozumel in Mexico had established a public outreach program to educate locals and visitors about turtle nesting habitats.
In addition, several businesses in Napier, New Zealand, had stopped using single-use plastics.
