Melbourne-based multidisciplinary artist Emma X Zhang brings a deeply personal perspective to her mural series at Local: Box Hill. As a Box Hill local, her connection to the area is both immediate and lived, shaped by her own experience of migration and the cultural layers that define the neighbourhood.
Spanning the lounge, Mahjong room and games room, the murals unfold as a continuous visual narrative. Moving throughthe four seasons, the work reflects cycles of nature, migration and transformation, with each space forming part of a larger sequence.
Drawing on traditional Chinese bird-and-flower painting and vintage Mahjong tiles, Emma layers natural forms with cultural symbolism. In the Mahjong room, sparrows, bamboo and directional motifs reference the game itself. “Mahjong” translates to “sparrow”, with the clacking of tiles during shuffling said to resemble the chattering of sparrows, grounding the work within Box Hill’s strong East Asian cultural identity.
The narrative reveals itself through movement. As residents move from room to room, colour shifts gradually from warm to cool tones, while butterflies appear at different stages of metamorphosis, reflecting transformation, migration and renewal.
“Walking through the three spaces should feel like a storybook – colour shifting warm to cool, each seasonholding its own mood but connected. We move through places, but where we came from stays in us. The work embraces flux. Seasons are pure change, a living thread pulling us through transformation” – Emma.
The murals were digitally mapped to the architecture before painting began, allowing the compositions to move fluidly across surfaces and respond directly to each space. Small, layered details are embedded throughout, revealing themselves over time and encouraging closer observation.
Together, the works reflect both personal and collective experience, bringing together memory, culture and place. As residents move through the spaces, the murals offer a shifting visual sequence that mirrors the evolving character of Box Hill.
