Abbotsleigh School
NSW, Australia
The Location
In 2025, as part of its 140th anniversary celebrations, Abbotsleigh — one of Sydney’s most distinguished all-girls schools, founded in 1885 in North Sydney, New South Wales — welcomed Matt and The Good of the Hive as Artist in Residence to create a permanent mural for the Senior School grounds.
The idea to bring Matt to the school was sparked during a visit to their exchange school in England, Pipers Corner, where Headmistress Megan Krimmer encountered one of Matt’s murals and was immediately struck by how deeply it resonated with Abbotsleigh’s own ethos — recognising it as the perfect birthday gift to the school, an artistic bridge connecting the two schools across the globe.
Scroll through the photo gallery below to view images from the project.
Why Honey Bees?
Matt spent six weeks painting the mural as students walked up and down the stairs chatting with him, an organic exchange entirely in keeping with The Good of the Hive‘s philosophy of community and connection. The setting carried a beautiful resonance: in a hive, the colony is entirely female-led, driven by the collective intelligence and labor of thousands of worker bees working together toward the best outcome — a metaphor that felt powerfully at home in a school devoted entirely to the education and empowerment of young women.
The mural stands as a lasting symbol of Abbotsleigh’s commitment to a better future, reminding its community that together they are stronger and that no matter their differences, they are all part of one interconnected ecosystem. Fittingly, the school’s Prefect theme for the year was Bee Connected — a phrase that took on vivid and permanent new meaning.
