Backwoods Gallery is a small independent gallery in a Collingwood laneway, specialising in street art, illustration, and the kind of contemporary work that sits between the gallery and the wall outside. It has shown many of the artists who made Melbourne's laneways internationally famous, and the surrounding streets around Easey Street are themselves an open-air canvas of constantly changing murals and paste-ups.
Shows turn over frequently and openings are lively, free, and a good way to meet the local scene. Combine a visit with a walk through the back lanes of Collingwood and Fitzroy, where the street art is as good as anything in the more touristed CBD laneways and far less crowded.