What is this? Answer: Street art. Is it really from Herald Sun? Answer: No.
What it is though is a social commentary on a certain issue which the artist wants to express, in this case it's a point about media hype and the power of fear to sell papers (In my interpretation).
But more than that, it's something new, which I havent seen before in Melbourne and the theme 'panic' is consistent with darkening economic storm clouds and the kind of suppressed panic that one (if an astute observer) can spot cropping up everywhere in the local community and in the world too. People thesedays tend to be filled with latent anxiety often converting to hysteria. This kind of energy often gets channelled and directed to boat people or doll bludgers, but if people never knew about such things they'd still feel the anxiety because it is the result of dwelling in a community who's economy is severely debt-stressed. I think people don't often make the connection between anxiety and hysteria and the economic stress they are emmerced within, principally because mass media portrays the economy in mundane nothing-to-see-here terms and often front-pages false issues like what Lady gaga is up to, or 'botox epidemic' as a conduit for the plebs to direct their phobias and so on.
