The She Matters mural on Hosier Lane honouring women alleged to have lost their lives to violence has been graffitied repeatedly since its installation in 2024, causing pain for victims’ families and outraging artists who say it represents another form of political inaction about male violence.

The mural honours the more than 150 women who have lost their lives in violent circumstances, most allegedly at the hands of men, since January 1, 2024.

For Shaun Azzopardi, it is a memorial to his sister Nikkita, who died in October last year. Her boyfriend, Joel Micallef has been charged with her murder and pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in March.

“Every time I walk past it’s just a reminder, I can’t believe that my sister’s on that wall,” Azzopardi said.

Creator of the mural Sherele Moody says she is repeatedly at Hosier Lane, restoring the work after finding vandalism covering the women’s faces.

In May, this issue went viral, when the words “War on Men” were painted over the mural faces. Weeks later, the message “fathers have rights too” was scrawled beside the wall acting as a memorial. Photos of individual women’s faces are also regularly defaced with sexualised abuse and street tags.

Hosier Lane is one of Melbourne’s most famous laneways, known as a free-to-paint area where seasoned street-artists and amateurs alike can make their mark without permission.

But some local artists think this street shrine to free expression is being misused when the mural about the social epidemic of violence against women is being defaced and covered up – literally – by men’s rights protestors.

They point out that in cases of hateful or racist graffiti around the rest of the city, Melbourne City Council promises a one-hour clean up response time, as part of their Graffiti Blitz campaign.

On the morning after the mural’s vandalism went viral, Moody, removed the “War on Men” message herself, stating that the Council’s clean-up merely obscured the message more.

“The council went down there and put some blue paint on it, which just made the damage even worse,” she said.

Joining Moody for the clean-up was a group of volunteers, who she said are the “only people interested in protecting it”.

Moody can recall at least five occasions since the tribute’s conception, on International Women’s Day (IWD) in 2024, when she has completed her own repairs.

Mr Azzopardi said that for those who have lost loved ones to violence, the wall is all they have.

“It means a lot to the community, and when it was vandalized all of us were very, very angry,” he said.

Melbourne City Council media advisor Tom Whitty said the council’s advice has been to relocate the mural.

“We have recommended the creator contact a private property owner for a designated space,” he said.

The Council’s website identifies a one-hour clean up time for offensive graffiti in the city, but Whitty said Hosier Lane has the unique position of being “a long-standing de-facto public space for street art – and everyone is welcome to contribute.”

Vasso Koletis, a street artist who was present when the mural was created, said the whole day was about creating art to celebrate IWD. She said the subsequent vandalism was symptomatic of a broader culture of misogyny in the famous laneway.

“The people that tagged it are not street-artists,” she said. “The entire street-art community has left that mural alone.”

Koletis said she had witnessed multiple cases of young men tagging over any art with feminist messaging, and that the council’s graffiti-reporting system is not up to scratch.

“I’ve reported these cases with photos, and I’ve never heard back from them. I’ve done about five reports in the last two months.”

Koletis said it seems the council’s stance is that if you create street art in Hosier Lane, you can expect it to be covered, and if the She Matters mural is to be protected, it needs to move.

The pictures of the women lost are posted on the wall of the Forum Theatre. Moody sent the theatre owner a request to lease the wall and protect the mural’s position but has not received a response.

She said she has also attempted to contact Yarra Council to find a private wall for the memorial but had also not heard back.

Moody was angered to see an Instagram post on May 7, 2025 from the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Natalie Hutchins, in front of the mural.

“The Minister for Women went down there and posed in front of the wall…smiling like it was Disneyland, but didn’t offer to help [move it]” she said.

The Minister responded by condemning the graffiti and violence against women.

“Let me be clear – this harmful, appalling vandalism is unacceptable,” Hutchins said.

The Minister noted that “we are changing laws, changing culture, and delivering more support for victim-survivors of family violence.”

Azzopardi said that without tributes like She Matters, no change will be made to reduce violence against women nationally.

“Once every four days a woman’s being murdered in Australia,” he said. “If you don’t do anything, nothing will change.

“We obviously want politicians to see it. And the more people who see it, the more traction hopefully it gets.”

Azzopardi, who runs the Instagram account Justice4Nikkita, said he has turned his grief into action so that legislative change can be made in Victoria.

“We want the people that have committed [crimes against women] to be held accountable and actually go to jail,” he said.

Zino Charalambous, another street artist who operates on Hosier Lane, says the onus to protect art from offensive or hate speech often falls to artists themselves.

“When we see discriminatory and racist things, we take a photo of it to record it, and then we just go over it with graffiti,” he said.

Charalambous said that while the lane is an official free-to-paint area where no permissions are required, there are unwritten rules between artists.

“Don’t paint over tribute pieces, especially if it’s dedicated to deceased people.”

Moody and Koletis expect the targeted tags to continue until the mural finds another home. Koletis’ response to the vandalism was blunt: “It’s a war on women.”

For the families like Azzopardi’s, no amount of graffiti can remove their grief.

“For myself and my whole family, every morning, every night, it’s all we’re thinking about.”

The Forum Theatre and Yarra Council have been contacted for comment.