Produce, Progress
Artist
Matt Stuckey
Location
Corner of Union Street & Ebenezer Place
Created by Adelaide artist Matt Stuckey in 2013, Produce, Progress is a monumental 135-square-metre mural spanning the upper three levels of the eastern façade of the Maras Group-developed building on Union Street. Conceived as an integral part of the building’s design, the work was planned alongside the development rather than added as an afterthought, creating a permanent piece of public art embedded within the architecture.
The mural’s repeating diamond pattern draws directly from the history of the site and surrounding East End. Its geometric forms reference decorative details found throughout the former Adelaide Fruit and Produce Exchange, including reliefs, tiles, window frames and grates, translating fragments of the precinct’s architectural past into a bold contemporary composition.
Stuckey’s design reflects the transition of the area from its historic role as the centre of Adelaide’s produce trade to the precinct seen today. The title, Produce, Progress, captures this relationship between past and present, preserving visual references to the former market while placing them within a distinctly modern architectural setting.
At the time of its completion, the mural was described as the largest in Adelaide, transforming what could otherwise have been a blank building façade into a significant piece of public art. Together with the building’s distinctive blue LED lighting, which illuminates its exterior after dark, Produce, Progress was conceived to give the development a strong visual identity by day and night.
