The naked Nirvana baby has been recreated yet again – this time on the unsuspecting streets of Adelaide.
Pete Stokes rode about 150km on a single-speed bike to sketch the outline of the famous Nevermind cover. His efforts, tracked by GPS-based site Strava, show the baby’s (slightly angry) face over the CBD and the banknote over the leafy eastern suburbs of Burnside and Kensington.
To mark Nevermind’s 30th anniversary on 24 September, Nirvana is planning to reissue the album. The official website shows they are still using the image of the naked baby, even though Spencer Elden, who was four months old then when it was shot in 1991, is suing Nirvana for sexual exploitation. (He recreated the swimming scene himself on the 25th anniversary, while fully clothed.)
Stokes, a national parks project manager, imposes pictures over mapping software. The baby took about eight hours, with bakery stops on top.
“It’s whatever takes my fancy at the time. Nirvana has its place in my record collection,” he told Guardian Australia.
“When this album came out I was in high school – I was about 14, and that’s when you’re forming your love of music.”
The 45-year-old cyclist has also sketched out Beethoven to mark the composer’s 250th birthday, and also done dinosaurs, dragons, foxes and a selfie.
Runners and cyclists around the world are making Strava art from Darth Vader to marriage proposals. In Perth, a cycling group drew a goat and a numbat. Orienteering Victoria have created maps of Australia, with a koala clinging on to the western coast.
Baltimore’s Michael Wallace calls it “being a human etch-a-sketch” and earlier this year he gave Guardian Australia some hints to spell out “Guardian” across the suburbs of Sydney. (Charge your phone, make sure your map is accessible and the streets are passable, avoid GPS blackspots, and always hit “save”.)
Alongside the tributes, the animals, and the well-meaning messages, naturally, there are some cruder attempts at Strava art. “Everyone has to do a dick and balls,” Stokes said (leaving aside the naked baby).
“I did the one … but I kept it highbrow. I did it around the Hugh Johnson Reserve.”