In March 2020, we all lived in a simpler, more naive world. But suddenly, we were taken by surprise as the world was hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Robyn had planned a mural of a little girl eating a jumbo swirl lollipop for the side of Addict Cafe in Fitzroy, near her studio at Juddy Roller, but it soon took on new meaning. What better way to convey the spirit of the times than through a mural on the street?

Robyn started with her characteristic monotone “grisaille” underpainting, intending to transform it into bright colours to capture a sense of childish playfulness, a follow-up to her “Little Fingerpainter” mural in Ringwood. But as the days went by, COVID-19 became the topic of the day. She decided to cast aside all the colour and reduce the mural to two key hues. In The Matrix movie, the red pill threatened to reveal the uncomfortable truth of reality, while the blue promised to maintain a blissful ignorance of the world. This seemed to provide a parallel to the world suddenly plunged into a global pandemic with looming lockdowns. Red and blue were the perfect colours as they evoked the known duality of The Matrix dilemma. And now the lollipop became a face mask. The mural idea was now about the loss of childhood innocence and the shock of facing reality.