Edwina Green named recipient of the First Nations Playable Public Art Sculpture Commission
Media Release May 2025
Edwina Green named recipient of the First Nations Playable Public Art Sculpture Commission
New sculpture to offer a space where children can explore, imagine, and play on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country
Incinerator Gallery, Moonee Valley City Council (MVCC), and Agency Projects are proud to announce the winner of the First Nations Playable Public Art Sculpture Commission is Edwina Green, a Trawlwoolway multidisciplinary artist based in Naarm. Green’s sculpture will form part of the trailblazing international exhibition The Playground Project, coming to the Incinerator Gallery from 28 June – 12 October 2025.
Moonee Valley City Council Mayor Ava Adams said:
“I can’t wait for Edwina’s stunning work to be shared with the community. Her sculpture acts as both a site of play and a place of learning, grounded in First Nations ways of being and knowing. We encourage audiences to head to the exhibition to see Edwina’s work, which will be on display from September 2025, before it moves to its final destination, along the Maribyrnong River, from which it has taken its inspiration.”
Since 2014, Incinerator Gallery’s program has supported and showcased over 80 First Nations artists and curators. Some of these notable names include Dean Cross, Gabi Briggs, and Hannah Presley. This year, MVCC’s major public art commission offered a unique opportunity for the selected artist to create a significant work that engages with themes of childhood, play, togetherness, and renewal, while responding to the cultural and environmental significance of the Maribyrnong River. For over 40,000 years, the river has been a site of deep cultural connection for the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung First Peoples—a place for learning, play, and discovery.
Edwina’s concept was chosen by a panel of six arts industry experts for its artistic and technical merit, its alignment with the commission brief, and its strong connection to place. Notably, her proposal recognised children as valued cultural citizens, offering a sculpture that is both playable and conceptually rigorous.
Panel member, Artistic Director and CEO of ACCA Myles Russell-Cook, said:
“The abstracted oyster form allows the sculpture to tell the story of the health and history of these lands and waterways. The work is a beautiful object that responds to the site without competing with it. At the same time, 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.”
Edwina Green works across painting, film, design, installation and sculpture to investigate narratives of perception, historical re-framing, cultural reclamation and the post-colonial paradigm and its impact on people and place. She has exhibited in respected galleries and festivals such as Firstdraft, Pari Ari, SEVENTH Gallery, Collarworks (New York), Yirramboi, Gertrude St Projection Festival, Brunswick Music Festival, and EFFA (Environmental Film Festival).
Edwina Green said:
“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 that 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 being able to contribute something joyful, grounding, and enduring to public spaces. I can't wait to watch how little ones engage with my work.”
The First Nations Playable Public Art Commission is presented by MVCC in partnership with Agency Projects and is being delivered in partnership with the Community Recovery Program, which supports community members in Moonee Valley impacted by the 2022 Maribyrnong Flood. The Community Recovery Program is jointly funded by the Victorian Government and Commonwealth Government under the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
The first public presentation of the winning proposal by Edwina Green will take place on Friday, 4 July as part of the Incinerator x MADA Talk Series: Art & Play, in conversation with Leila Gurruwiwi, panel member and project partner (Agency).
More information is available at Incinerator Gallery - The Playground Project Melbourne
Image: Concept design by Edwina Green, prepared by Lump Studio. Note: the image is indicative.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
The Playground Project
When: 28 June – 12 October 2025
Where: Incinerator Gallery, 180 Holmes Road, Aberfeldie, Melbourne / Naarm, VIC 3040, Australia
Bookings: Kids go free at playgroundproject.com.au
About The Playground Project
The Playground Project is a living archive and on-going travelling exhibition, informed by curated by Swiss urban designer and political scientist, Gabriela Burkhalter, about the theory, history and practice of playground design. Melbourne’s iteration of The Playground Project will show from 28 June to 12 October 2025, Commissioned by Moonee Valley City Council for Incinerator Gallery.
About Incinerator Gallery
Established in 2011, Incinerator Gallery is a platform for unique cultural experiences that connects society through art and design. It is a leading contemporary cultural space in Melbourne’s north-western suburbs, fostering design exploration, social interaction, discovery, knowledge sharing, learning and community development. A platform for unique cultural experiences that connects society through art and design, it welcomes communities, art professionals, students and people of all ages interested in art and design.
About First Nations-led series
Since 2014, the Incinerator Gallery First Nations program has supported and featured more than 80 Indigenous artists and curators. Committed to cultural awareness and storytelling, Incinerator Gallery plays a vital role in nurturing and celebrating Indigenous voices. As a prominent public gallery in Melbourne’s northwestern suburbs, it leads the way in Australia’s creative sector by actively enriching and engaging with local artistic communities.
Media enquiries
Deveta Patel, Coordinator, Communications
Mobile: 0416 487 886
Email: dpatel@mvcc.vic.gov.au