First Nations Playable Public Art Sculpture Commission 2025
Edwina Green
Moonee Valley City Council x Incinerator Gallery x Lump Sculpture Studio x Arts Eleven Projects
Commissioner: Incinerator Gallery and Moonee Valley City Council, with support from Agency Projects
Project: First Nations Playable Public Art Sculpture Commission 2025
Lead Artist: Edwina Green
Project Management: Melanie Caple, Arts Eleven Projects
Sculpture Manufacturing: Lump Sculpture Studio with support from CONC.
Photography: Timothy Burgess IMAGEPLAY
Edwina Green (Trawlwoolway), babanh-u laangi-yuyuk-a (Mother of Pearl), 2025
Concrete and stainless steel, 130cm x 220cm x 60cm
Commissioned by Incinerator Gallery and Moonee Valley City Council (MVCC), in partnership with Agency Projects for The Playground Project Melbourne in 2025, this artwork honours the knowledge held within Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Country and inspired by its history and continual health of land and waterways.
Edwina Green’s new playable sculpture was temporarily installed at Incinerator Gallery as part of The Playground Project Melbourne, an international exhibition exploring the role of play in public space. The exhibition ran from 28 June to 12 October 2025, with the sculpture installed from September.
This major public art commission invited proposals from artists and collectives responding to themes of childhood, play, togetherness, and renewal, while honouring the cultural and environmental significance of the Maribyrnong River to Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung First Peoples for over 40,000 years. Shortlisted artists included Aunty Kim Waldin and Chris Joy, Iluka Sax-Williams, and Robert Michael Young.
Edwina’s concept was selected by a panel of six arts industry leaders for its artistic and technical merit, strong connection to place, and recognition of children as cultural citizens. Her design was both playable and conceptually rich.
As Myles Russell-Cook, Artistic Director and CEO of ACCA, explains: “The abstracted oyster form allows the sculpture to tell the story of the health and history of these lands and waterways. It carries an indelible commitment to fostering the knowledge embedded within Aboriginal custodianship of Country. Her work builds on the significance of this place to all people, but especially young ones—its past, its present, and its future.”
The first public presentation of Edwina’s concept took place on Friday 4 July, as part of the Incinerator x MADA Talk Series: Art & Play, in conversation with panel member and Agency project partner, Leila Gurruwiwi.
In 2026, the sculpture was permanently relocated to the Maribyrnong River Trail in Aberfeldie on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country. The project was generously joint-funded by the Victorian Government and Commonwealth Government under the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), through the Community Recovery Hubs grant program after the 2022 flooding of the Maribyrnong River.
“I’m incredibly honoured and excited to bring this sculpture to life. Creating a work that invites children to play, imagine, and connect with Country is something I hope to continue to embed in my practice. This commission has allowed me to honour the cultural significance of the Maribyrnong River, which has held me for most of my life, while contributing something joyful, grounding, and enduring to public spaces. I can't wait to watch how little ones engage with my work.”
Edwina Green, 2025
Two children playing on a modern playground structure with a textured surface, located outdoors under a cloudy sky.
A person kneeling on a gravel surface, arranging a green foliage and branches in a large flowerpot.
Group of six diverse people sitting on a curved, speckled concrete sculpture at an outdoor park, with trees and a large building with a metal roof in the background.
A young boy crouches on a bed of wood chips, looking at a shiny metal sphere that reflects the sky, clouds, and a person taking the photo.
Pictured above from left to right: Jake Treacy, Incinerator Gallery Exhibition Curator; Jade Niklai, Head of Visual and Public Art, Incinerator Gallery; Leila Gurruwiwi, Cultural Liaison and Public Programs Lead, Agency Projects; Melanie Caple, Project Manager, Arts Eleven Projects; MJ Flamiano, Public Art Officer, Incinerator Gallery MVCC and Chris Vassallo, Sculpture Lead, Lump Sculpture Studio.
Photography above by Timothy Burgess, IMAGEPLAY, documenting babanh-u laangi-yuyuk-a (Mother of Pearl) installed at the Incinerator Gallery site, September 2025 - May 2026.
Edwina Green
Edwina Green is a Trawlwoolway First Nations multidisciplinary artist based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) Her practice explores perception, historical re-framing, cultural reclamation, and the post-colonial impact on people and place. Graduating from The University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, she has exhibited extensively across Australia and internationally.
Her sculptural works often integrate organic materials, reflecting deep ecological and cultural connections. Green’s practice is driven by the intersection of materiality and storytelling, transforming spaces into immersive experiences that bring ancestral knowledge into the present. Through her practice, she explores the ongoing connection between First Nations culture and the spaces we inhabit today.
Abstract modern outdoor concrete bench with a reflective metallic sphere at one end, situated on a sandy surface in a park with greenery, trees, and a river in the background.
A person speaking into a microphone to a crowd gathered outdoors near a large palm tree and a modern building, with smoke or fog effects, during daytime.
Modern sculpture of a reclining abstract figure with a shiny metal sphere at one end, situated outdoors on a patch of wood chips in a park near a pond with trees in the background.
A woman and a young child at a park, with the woman smiling and touching a sculpted, wave-like structure, while the child looks on. The woman is wearing glasses, a striped shirt, and a backpack, and the child is in a striped shirt. There are trees and greenery in the background.
A woman with glasses holding a backpack, standing next to two young boys, one sitting on a bench and the other standing, with a third boy sitting on the ground, in a park with trees and a pond in the background.
Three people in a park with trees, a pond, and a cloudy sky. One woman is sitting on a bench, another woman standing with a backpack, and a man standing behind them.
Photography above by Thomas McCammon, documenting babanh-u laangi-yuyuk-a (Mother of Pearl) installed by the Maribyrnong River from May 2026, its permanent location.
Edwina Green photographed with her newborn and nephews. Photo above right of Edwina Green, Chris Vassallo of Lump Sculpture Studio and Melanie Caple of Arts Eleven Projects.
Video footage courtesy of Fancy Films and Incinerator Gallery, Moonee Valley City Council.