An eight-year-old budding artist, Elliot Laurent, will see his painting “The Sunrise” used in the branding and marketing of the Fomo redevelopment of the former Myer and Queensgate buildings and parking lot in Fremantle, WA. Inspired by an ocean sunrise, Elliot’s creation was one of five selected from around 500 paintings completed at WA’s largest-ever paint-in art event at Fremantle Oval – Fomo Freo Colour. Elliot’s father, Chris Laurent, said he brought his family down to the free
event after seeing it on Facebook.
“Elliot normally prefers drawing, but he really took to standing on the grass of Freo Oval among all the other easels to paint his picture along with everyone else,” Laurent said.
“We were all absolutely thrilled his painting was chosen. It is a very big deal for him – he already feels more confident mixing colours and has asked for an easel and some paints for Christmas so he can continue painting. He said he would love to spend some of his winnings on art supplies because ‘I want to invest in myself’.”
The driving force behind the unconventional initiative, Sirona Capital managing director Matthew McNeilly, said the free event was a chance to give back to the community and to give people an opportunity to be a part of the $220 million redevelopment.
“From the outset we knew in marketing the project we didn’t want to impose an external view of Fremantle onto the community – we want Fomo to be taken into people’s hearts and for them to be an integral part of it,” McNeilly said.
“There has never been a community event quite like Fomo Freo Colour, so it was amazing to see how people like Elliot really took the time to think about and paint what Freo means to them.
