First Nations artists selected for landmark Laak Boorndap public artworks

The Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MAP Co) has announced two major First Nations public art commissions for Laak Boorndap, the expansive new urban garden taking shape at the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct.

Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung artist Brooke Wandin and Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong artist Tarryn Love have been selected to deliver the high-profile works, which will form permanent features of the 18,000-square-metre garden currently under construction as part of the Victorian Government’s $1.7 billion Arts Precinct Transformation .

Laak Boorndap is being designed as a major civic gathering space, reconnecting the Arts Precinct to Birrarung and creating new opportunities for creative expression, rest and reflection in the centre of the city. The two commissions are intended to foreground First Nations history, culture and connection to Country at the precinct’s core.

Ms Wandin’s artwork will be centred around a water feature within the garden, drawing on Birrarung’s significance to Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people as a source of life, stories and cultural continuity. Her work will reflect the river’s changing course over time while inviting visitors to pause and consider their relationship with water and place.

This commission invites others to join me to revere Birrarung as she sustains us all, Ms Wandin said. Despite the skyscrapers and concrete, her ancient pulse is beating.

Ms Love’s commission will create a gathering place within Laak Boorndap, celebrating long-held traditions of coming together, ceremony and shared experience. Her work will acknowledge First Peoples as the first architects of communal spaces built for storytelling, exchange and cultural practice.

“I am honoured to create a work in conversation with this sacred river Country,” Ms Love said. “It’s about intergenerational knowledge sharing and the strength of our survival.”

In addition to the two permanent commissions, Laak Boorndap will also feature a rotating display of sculptures drawn from the National Gallery of Victoria’s collection, adding an evolving layer of contemporary art to the garden. 

Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks said the artworks would help ensure Laak Boorndap becomes “a living, breathing destination” for millions of visitors each year, while MAP Co chief executive Katrina Sedgwick described the commissions as central to championing First Nations storytelling within one of Melbourne’s most significant public spaces.

Laak Boorndap is being designed by Hassell in partnership with New York-based SO-IL, alongside leading horticulturalists and landscape specialists. Once complete, MAP Co will manage and activate the garden as a key link between Fed Square and Southbank, embedding culture, nature and gathering at the heart of the city. •