19 July – 3 August 2025
Townsville City Council acknowledges the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun, Bindal, Gugu Badhun and Nywaigi as the Traditional Owners of this land. We pay our respects to their cultures, their ancestors and their Elders, past and present, and all future generations.
19 July – 3 August 2025
Publisher:
Townsville City Galleries
PO Box 1268
Townsville, QLD 4810
galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au
© Townsville City Galleries and respective artists and authors 2025
ISBN: 978-0-949461-62-9
Publication Design and Development: Taylah Thompson McLeod
Artwork Documentation:
All images courtesy of the artists or Through the Looking Glass Studio, unless otherwise noted.
Cover Image: Aranda © Selwyn Johnson 2024
Editor: Evie Franzidis
Sponsors:
On behalf of Townsville City Council, I am proud to welcome you to this year’s Ephemera, North Queensland’s premier public art festival.
With a focus on sustainability, Ephemera 2025 encourages a celebration of the natural wonders and beauty that surround our city while considering how we can leave a lighter footprint for future generations.
Ephemera continues to be a highlight on Townsville’s vibrant arts and culture calendar, attracting entries from local, national, and international artists, as well as from local schools and community groups.
We are thrilled to showcase 29 inspirational artworks, including 25 competitive entries, works from four invited artists, and a vivid beach installation that will leave an impression without leaving a mark.
I would like to extend my gratitude to every team member, volunteer, sponsor, and artist whose creativity and dedication has contributed to this year’s event. It’s your passion that brings this festival to life.
Whether you are here to be inspired, support our talented artists, or to simply enjoy the experience, thank you for visiting and being part of Ephemera 2025.
Cr Ann-Maree Greaney Acting Mayor of Townsville
In 2025, Ephemera remembers the origins of this festival—now in its 13th iteration—which is to make art that is impermanent or ephemeral. Consequently, all works have responded to the theme of being ‘trace-less’. Artists were asked to creatively explore ideas of the transitory, leaving less of a trace on Country and the environment.
This year sees some exciting new additions to Ephemera and a range of award categories:
• Bulana, an evening beach projection featuring works by five First Nations artists. All artists are local or have strong ties to Saltwater Country. Gather on Strand Beach (map point 18) each night of the festival to experience Bulana!
• Internationally renowned Puerto Rican artists Allora & Calzadilla have created an iteration of their truly ephemeral work Chalk. During the day, Ephemera visitors can participate in this artwork by heading down to the Gregory Street end of The Strand (map point 29).
• Nationally celebrated Victorian artist Cameron Robbins has built Dream Studio, which will make drawings driven by the wind. The artist will be on site during the festival to chat with Ephemera visitors (map point 23).
• We are also thrilled to introduce a new competitive category for young artists and school groups: the $1,000 Young Artistic Excellence Award.
• Artists are invited to compete for several exciting awards, including the $10,000 Artistic Excellence Award, the $1,000 Environmental Advocate Award and the $1,000 People’s Choice Award.
The People’s Choice Award, sponsored by wilson/ryan/grose Lawyers, invites viewers to vote for their favourite competitive artwork displayed along The Strand. To cast your vote, please visit ephemera-tsv.com.au or scan the QR code located on the label of your favourite artwork.
We invite everyone to capture their favourite moments at Ephemera 2025 and share them on social media using the hashtag #ephemera2025.
A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who has made Ephemera 2025 possible—artists, staff, sponsors, and dedicated volunteers. Each person involved has played an essential role in bringing this event to life.
We are honoured to showcase the incredible talent of the artists whose works are exhibited on The Strand. They serve as a celebration both of creativity and of North Queensland’s unique identity, offering insights into subjects that affect us all.
Recycled aluminium and copper, recycled shotgun shells, and brass casings
150 x 500 x 500 cm
Rae Saheli’s installation Elysian Blooms is a large-scale sculpture featuring three ethereal flowers created from recycled materials, including spent shotgun shells, brass casings, shot aluminium, and copper. The artist’s distinctive art-making technique involves using a 12-gauge shotgun. That’s right, Rae shoots her work! She creates dynamic textures symbolising creation and transformation while minimising environmental impact. During the day, sunlight passes through the perforated petals, casting intricate shadows, while at night, solar-powered coloured lighting illuminates the flowers.
Rae hopes her work inspires others to consider their own environmental footprint, embrace more sustainable art practices, and reflect on the transient nature of life and the importance of leaving no lasting trace.
Rae Saheli is an artist living and working on Bundjalung Country; she is a longtime resident of the Gold Coast. Rae completed an Advanced Diploma in Visual Arts at TAFE, NSW, in 2020, and is currently employed as a Technical Assistant in the Visual Arts department. No longer interested in using paint to render the world in expressive or colourful ways, Rae uniquely uses a 12-gauge shotgun as her mark-making tool of choice. Drawing on over 20 years’ experience as a clay target shooter, her process favours chance and chaos over any sense of pictorial order. Rae’s work has been featured on ABC’s What’s Your Story?, in SWELL Sculpture Festival, Industrial SWELL, the Gallery Downtown annexe of Tweed Regional Art Gallery, Northern Rivers Community Gallery, Brunswick Street Gallery, and the Woolloongabba Art Gallery.
Rae has undertaken Artist in Residence programs at Placemakers (2023) and The Walls Art Space (2020).
Ghost net, beach found rope, sand, fabric, and fishing rod supports 200 x 300 x 300 cm
This supersized ghost net anemone moves with the natural environmental wind conditions as it would with the ocean currents. Anemones are known to trap their prey by injecting a paralysing toxin. The tentacles guide the prey into the mouth, where it disappears without a trace.
The swaying tentacles have been hand-stitched using deconstructed and reconstructed ghost nets. Both these deadly predators (the ghost net and the anemone) trap and consume prey, leaving no trace.
Walk through at your peril.
Marion Gaemers and Lynnette Griffiths have postgraduate qualifications in the Visual Arts, collaborating on projects since the 1990s. Their wide-ranging skills are evident in their installations and material development. In 2024, they exhibited work in the QLD Museum Tropics exhibition Coral Chronicles, and held related workshops through the North Australian Festival of Arts. The same year, they produced work based on life in the Swan River for the WA Maritime Museum. In 2023 they were selected as finalists in the World of Wearable Art, New Zealand, winning International Designer Australia and the Pacific. Together, they have exhibited in local, national and international museums and galleries, and have their work represented in many collections.
12 parts: Recycled cans, fabric, wire, and electrical tape
50 x 40 x 18 cm
The creation of these ibis sculptures from recycled materials aims to blend artistry with environmental consciousness, exploring themes of resilience and renewal. The iconic ibis, a symbol of adaptability and humour, serves as a poignant reminder of the beauty that can emerge from the remnants of our consumer culture. The ibis has adapted to the loss of its natural food supply by eating rubbish and pest species. Each piece of material here has a story: discarded cans and repurposed metal come together to form a familiar backyard scene. The inner parts of the cans reflect the light, offering a shimmering effect on the ibises’ feathers.
By transforming waste into art, the artists invite viewers to reflect on their relationship with nature and the impact of their choices on the environment and wildlife. The process of assembling these materials mirrors the way ecosystems adapt and thrive, even in the face of adversity.
Green Saint Project are Dahé Wie and Jacqueline Burchell, a duo of emerging artists who believe in the beauty of ibis birds. Both graphic designers and fine artists living in Townsville, the two connected through Design Works Apparel, a company that creates wearable art— clothing printed on recycled fabric. The duo believes in the social and environmental effect of art, and they work towards creating art that is relatable and addresses existing issues through humour.
Aluminium, mirrored Alucobond, self-adhesive vinyl, resin, acrylic sheeting, and recycled pool ladders
Five parts: 100 x 120 x 120 cm
Placed along the beach, Carla Gottgens’ five Memory Pools appear to be portals in the ground that offer a window into another time and place. They seem to showcase what may be lost in the future—becoming nothing more than a memory. Each pool transports the viewer to a disappeared world that once held old growth forests, vibrant coral reefs, healthy ice floes, and natural formations. Using photography and layered panels, Gottgens creates an optical illusion for viewers to experience and ponder, addressing possible lost narratives of our Earth’s future and past.
Carla Gottgens is a multidisciplinary artist from Naarm (Melbourne). Her art practice includes two- and three-dimensional artworks, covering a diverse range of materials from steel, acrylic forms, and timber to glass and printed materials. With a background in photography, Carla strives to find unique ways that photography can be used within sculptural forms and the outdoor environment. Her art practice is driven by the desire for audiences to interact with her artworks, and they are often referred to as fun, colourful, and quirky. Her artworks have been exhibited across Australia in outdoor and indoor exhibition spaces. Her commissioned permanent work can be found in Townsville, Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne, and in regional areas of NSW and Victoria.
Sand, and plant pulp (eucalyptus bark, lomandra, grass clippings, seaweed, debris, and plant waste gathered from local area)
50 x 300 x 300 cm
Strand Lines is a site-specific earthwork, existing where ocean, earth, and human interaction meet in the rhythms of coastal transformation. Set along Townsville’s The Strand, this circular installation echoes the ancient cycles of life, erosion, and renewal, embodying nature’s own sculpting hand. Rochelle Morris has arranged sand and plant pulp from the local area in patterns that mimic the tidal imprints left by the retreating sea, creating a textured dialogue of impermanence and entropy. The circular form acts as a vessel for these cycles, symbolising the ongoing journey of plant matter as it returns to the earth, and nourishes new growth. As the sculpture interacts with the elements, viewers can witness its gradual dissipation, creating an experience that aligns with the cyclical rhythms of the land and sea. In honouring these rhythms, Strand Lines embraces the ephemeral and leaves no trace.
Rochelle Morris is an emerging artist from Dharawal land, who recently graduated with a Fine Arts (Honours) degree from the Victorian College of the Arts. Her practice explores ecological assemblages through a decolonial, eco-feminist lens. Rochelle blurs the boundaries between painting and sculpture via entangling materials such as plant matter, earth pigments and found building materials to challenge hierarchies and demonstrate the intra-connections in our causal ecosystems. In 2024, Rochelle was the recipient of the Future Leaders Award and the James Lemon Award for Excellence at Craft Victoria’s annual Fresh! exhibition.
Bamboo, string, swivel, and feathers
150 x 750 x 4000 cm
The importance of wetlands to migrating shore birds cannot be overstated. Birds cover vast distances for abundant food and breeding in these environmentally sensitive areas. Humanity is adding pressure on these precious habitats; we need to tread more lightly or we will destroy these pristine places. Feathers fluttering endlessly in the wind simulate the enduring effort of these birds—free to fly but constrained by the environment they rely on. While the birds were once able to travel worldwide with rest stops, humanity has destroyed many of the important habitats that would normally sustain and restore their energy and life along their journeys.
Through his artworks, Simon Poole explores themes of landscape and the interplay between humanity and the environment. Having travelled extensively around the Australian continent and lived in farflung places to immerse himself within inspiring scenes, Simon endeavours to creatively play with aspects of the landscape that he experiences. Whether it be the lush greens of the rainforest in Far North Queensland, ocean sunsets and stairways to the moon in Pindan Country (Western Australia), or even the big skies, endless starry universes and thirsty arid zones in the goldfields, Simon’s art blends observed natural elements with form, colour and often with a dash of the larrikin, to provide the viewer with a greater depth of understanding to what he has seen and experienced.
Steel, fibreglass, and stainless steel
500 x 1000 x 270 cm
As an advocate for wildlife and habitat conservation, Mick Brown uses mostly recycled materials to construct his artworks. Dream Rider represents a wedge-tail eagle rising to glory from the wake of consumerism. With giant wings reborn from discarded surfboards and a powerful body emerging from reclaimed metal signs and over 300 indestructible polypropylene paint buckets, Dream Rider is here to embrace all that is Australian wildlife and habitat.
Mick Brown has spent most of his life as an oil painter and airbrush artist, exhibiting in many parts across Australia, including Port Hedland, Western Australia, and on the Gold Coast, South East Queensland. In recent years, Mick has changed his artistic direction and is now focusing on sculpture. He exhibited at SWELL Sculpture Festival on the Gold Coast in 2023 and 2024.
Illawarra flame tree pods, glass, and silicone
Variable dimensions
Susan Reddrop’s work Benevolence playfully invites viewers to become aware of looking at the work, and the work looking back at them, causing them to be uncertain about what that might mean. Viewers are faced with the following questions: Are you safe? Is the work benevolent? Can you engage with it? Should you slow down your movements or hasten your step? Can you match its energy or should you challenge it? Is it regarding you pleasingly or are you regarding it with scorn? Is it cute, confusing, friend or foe? Does it belong there? Do you belong there? Is it OK to maintain eye contact or should you look away? Can you understand it and might it understand you? What’s next? How many of them are there?
Made of Illawarra flame tree pods and glass, this work evokes the feeling of being among a colony of bats with all eyes upon you. At night, they glow and by day they are just silently watching.
Susan Reddrop is a glass artist and sculptor who works across a wide range of materials and contexts. She has exhibited in both solo and group shows and also enjoys largerscale public art projects and collaborating with people from all walks of life. She was a winner of the Shopfront Award in the Lorne Sculpture Biennale, and been a finalist in the Wollongong Art in the Garden Prize, Hidden Rookwood Sculpture Prize, Haven Public Art Prize, Deakin Contemporary Small Sculpture Prize, Bluethumb Sculpture Prize, Nillumbik Prize, Mandorla Art Award, Human Rights Award, and Cancer Council Award, to name but a few. In 2022, Susan attended Pilchuck International Glass School on Scholarship and was part of an Artscape documentary series entitled Hannah Gadsby Goes Domestic.
Click here to vote for the People’s Choice Award
Dung beetles: reclaimed and charred timber
Dung beetle balls: recycled materials
200 x 1000 x 1000 cm
Roll Models depicts a series of larger-thanlife dung beetles, in various dung beetleesque poses with their ‘dung balls’, on the beach. These balls are made out of discarded items left on the beach. Collecting the rubbish into large balls and moving them across the beach marks the dung beetles’ attempt at re-use, recycle, rebirth.
The work includes three dung beetles made from local reclaimed timber, charred and polished to give a high sheen, and two large spheres. One sphere comprises bright, coloured plastics; the other sphere contains a conglomerate of scrap metal, copper wires, aluminium cans and street signs. One dung beetle is positioned with its head down pushing a recycled material sphere with his hind legs (a play on the iconic Aussie worker’s pose: “head down, bum up”), while the other two beetles are working in unison to navigate their rubbish sphere dung ball across the landscape.
Chainsaw Newton is a self-taught chainsaw woodcarver and sculptor in the small village of Chinderah, Northern Rivers, NSW.
His work reveals an imaginative, often whimsical or humorous abstraction of simple elements sourced and inspired by his local environment.
His materials bear their history upon themselves—woodcuts and knot-holes speak of their story and its origins.
Chainsaw exclusively uses reclaimed woods and timbers, frequently sourcing and restoring vintage woodworking tools and chainsaws from garage sales.
Some of his catchphrases are as follows: “new is fleeting but old is forever”; “I believe there’s an intrinsic beauty in giving materials and tools a second life”; “happiness is a loud chainsaw”.
Chainsaw’s work often features local fauna as his narrative vehicle.
Ephemera 2023 saw Chainsaw Newton’s debut at The Strand, with his collection of large-scale sea shell creatures roaming the beachfront.
Printed real estate sign, and plywood bunker escape hatch
Luxury Subterranean Family Residence: Protect your loved ones from climate-related disasters, civil unrest and potential future pandemics within this luxurious underground bunker. This architecturally designed sanctuary is discreetly located and fortified with cuttingedge subterranean survival technology, providing modern comforts and ultimate security for you and your family. Enjoy peace of mind and tranquillity in this safe haven.
This site-responsive stage set creates a surreal narrative, reflecting the evolving symptoms of fear and dispossession as humanity grapples with and yearns to escape the impacts of our changing world.
“Architecture of dread” is the term coined by urban geographer Dr Bradley Garrett to describe contemporary bunkers. They are as much a metaphorical space as an architectural one, embodying our 21st-century anxieties and insecurities, mirroring how we view the world and each other.
Estimated dimensions of components:
Real estate sign: 160 x 180 cm
bunker escape hatch: 90 x 20 cm
subterranean bunker (fictional): 1200 x 2000 x 2500 cm
Property website: bunkerdown.info
Sally Kidall travels internationally, creating vast site-responsive interventions within challenging sites and buildings of interest, showing artworks beyond the restraints of the gallery. She explores metaphorical spaces and environments that engage with the anxieties and insecurities of our contemporary society. She endeavours to inspire and challenge audiences, evoking thoughts, questions and discussion. Her works are temporary, often incorporating virtual and fictional narratives. With a background in sculpture (MA, Portsmouth University, UK), Sally has a practice spanning over 35 years. She has exhibited extensively throughout the UK, Australia, India, Spain, Italy, Germany, USA, Senegal, Ukraine, South Korea, France, New Zealand, Netherlands, Andorra, Canada, Finland, and Croatia. Recent projects include Arte Laguna 2024, Finalist Exhibition, Venice; Dakar OFF 22, Dakar Biennale, Senegal; RespirArt-22, Italy; Secret Rooms, Nykarleby, Finland; Site-Responsive Biennale, I-Park, USA; Andorra L’and Art Biennale; Biennale of Australian Art, Ballarat; and CAFKA Biennale 23, Canada. Sally also regularly exhibits in Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi.
Steel, she oak, palm, grass, and pebbles
250 x 250 x 250 cm
Bowers, the ultimate ephemeral sculptures, are built as a labour of love by Great Bowerbirds (Chlamydera nuchalis), locals to Townsville and other parts of North Queensland. These talented and adaptable native birds build bowers for the purpose of courtship. While bowers are traditionally tucked under bushes on the forest floor, Great Bowerbirds are also adept at building their remarkable sculptures right outside some of the luckier homes in town.
Bowers often attract the eye of admiring humans with whom they share a fondness for exceptional design and shiny trinkets.
Laura and Jane (Bower Birds) have been refining their vision for a human-scale bower over several years. The ‘Traceless’ theme of this year’s Ephemera at The Strand presented an unmissable opportunity to put planning into action. Like Great Bowerbirds, the duo live in Townsville, love being in nature, admire fabulous design, value sustainability, and find it hard to resist shiny things.
Click here to vote for the People’s Choice Award
Unchartered Pulse 2024
Reclaimed marine debris, various plastics, netting, rope and found objects, LED lights, and acrylic paint
300 x 1000 x 100 cm
Unchartered Pulse represents a cluster of jellyfish-like creatures, whose unique adaptations and abilities enable them to survive and thrive in extreme oceanic conditions. The work explores our instinctive drive to navigate life’s unpredictable currents, embodying the relentless rhythm of resilience in moments of flow and resistance.
Crafted from reclaimed marine debris and recycled materials, India Collins’ work reflects the beauty that emerges from fragments or discarded materials, a symbol of power and adaptation.
Suspended and illuminated, Unchartered Pulse responds to natural forces such as wind and light. Its nonlinear form represents the often-chaotic paths we follow, which are shaped by an internal, unyielding beat that drives us forward, despite obstacles. India frequently employs existing materials and incorporates solar-powered lighting, utilising methods that minimise environmental impact and contribute to the circular economy and environmental sustainability. Ultimately, her work encourages us to reflect on our responsibility to preserve the planet while celebrating its beauty.
India Collins is a contemporary artist based in Cairns. Born and raised in Canada, she completed her Fine Arts studies in Montréal before relocating. Her multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, installation, and textile design, with a strong focus on integrating textile and weaving techniques into sculptural forms. India’s work is deeply rooted in narratives that draw on the inherent histories of the materials she uses, transforming them into new and socially engaged contexts. Working predominantly with recycled materials, particularly reclaimed and discarded textiles, the artist prioritises sourcing locally and ethically to minimise the environmental impact of her practice. Known for her large-scale sculptural works, India was the recipient of the Max Fabre Foundation Environmental Award at the 2024 SWELL Sculpture Festival on the Gold Coast. Her work has been featured in prominent public exhibitions and commissions (e.g., Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast; Cairns Airport; Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi; Ephemera, Townsville; Biennale of Australian Art, Ballarat).
Dried periwinkle plants (catharanthus roseus), and jute string/rope
300 x 600 x 2 cm
The periwinkle plants (catharanthus roseus) in this work have been pulled from a conservation block on Yunbenun (Magnetic Island), which was cleared in the 1940s by CSIRO for tick research on cattle grazing on the land. The land is now being rehabilitated by a volunteer nature care group on the island. Once pulled, these weeds are left to dry and decompose into the soil and to renourish the land, allowing local native plants to thrive. By weaving these dried plants into chains, Rose Gordon reminds us of the treatment of our First Nations people in Australia’s history and of the damage we have done to this Country by introducing plants and animals. These chains are suspended on jute rope under trees. With seeds removed, if left, eventually they will disappear without trace.
Rose Gordon is a retired clinical nurse now looking after the land and environment. She is an active member of Zero Waste and Magnetic Island Nature Care Association on Yenbenun (Magnetic Island). She has participated in group weaving projects with the Ghost Net Collective. This will be her second public exhibition after exhibiting pieces in an ephemeral exhibition on Claude’s Block at Bolger Bay on Magnetic Island for Magnetic Island Nature Care Association.
Steel rod, paper, cane, LED lighting, glue, and waterproofing agent
240 x 600 x 200 cm
Kraken reimagines the legendary mythical monster rising up to claim and take over The Strand Jetty during Ephemera 2025: Trace-less. The reaching, grasping tentacles (arms) move up and surround the Jetty structure, forming an archway for audiences to journey through. A collaborative work by Light Forms (Michael Pope and Jo Stacey), Kraken embraces supernatural and environmental themes that link to water and are designed to create conversation, curiosity, and delight.
Light Forms is a collaboration between artists Michael Pope and Jo Stacey. The creative duo behind Kraken create largescale, site-specific sculptural lanterns that incite wonder and delight.
Michael is an artist and teacher based in Gurambilbarra/Townsville. His interdisciplinary practice spans a range of mediums, including drawing, sculpture, installation, and ceramics, and he frequently collaborates with others.
Jo’s artworks express her love of community, sustainable living, and her concerns over the environment and about preserving a sense of place. Her art practice encompasses printmaking, book binding, drawing and experimenting with different methods and mediums and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Hand-sculpted with Brickies sand and water
270 x 600 x 600 cm
An interactive and immersive handsculpted art installation created from sand and water, TICK-TOCK explores the fragility of the balance between humanity and nature. It looks to evoke thoughts and conversation around awareness of environmental stewardship. This sand sculpture considers the relationship between anthropogenic processes and the impact these have on the biosphere over short- and long-time scales. Learning from the past is the best way to understand how we can contribute to a better future and to individually and collectively be as trace-less as possible. The future is in our hands!
Sandstorm Events is Australia’s only award-winning sand-sculpting eventmanagement company. Owned by Melbourne-based husband and wife Sharon and Peter Redmond, the company has 19 years of experience building and delivering exceptional quality bespoke sand sculptures in Australia and beyond.
Russell Solomon
Dinosaurs...SURVIVED! Mass extinction event...SURVIVED! Ice Age... SURVIVED! Plastic pollution...??? 2024–25
Recycled copper wire and repurposed upcycled milk bottles
10 x 180 x 450 cm
Dinosaurs…SURVIVED! Mass extinction event…SURVIVED! Ice Age…SURVIVED! Plastic pollution…??? represents an iconic scene of adorable little sea turtle hatchlings to draw the viewer in with a sense of joy, whimsy and curiosity. However, the installation conveys a more serious message.
This artwork addresses the exhibition’s theme of ‘Trace-less’ through Russell Solomon’s conscious use of recycled and repurposed materials, minimising the installation’s impact on the environment.
The clever use of upcycled milk bottle plastic to represent the eggs, from which multiple hatchlings are yet to emerge, gives us an opportunity to reflect on the part we play in the creation of plastics polluting our oceans.
Russell Solomon’s work mostly concerns the natural environment, its inhabitants, and our impact on it. He uses recycled objects and materials to minimise his environmental footprint.
In his latest sculpture, Russell continues to bring audiences a sense of joy and whimsy, a connection to easily recognisable and relatable scenes that later reveal a more important message.
Coral Garden 2024
Marine ply and acrylic paint
150 x 600 x 600 cm
Coral Garden is a playful sculptural reimagining of a beautiful coral reef. Reef Revolution (Jo Stacey and Adam Smith) create an accessible reef we can step into on the beach; like a reef we can snorkel, Coral Garden is brimming with colour, spectacular with vibrant life. At night, it transforms to a mysterious darkened world traced with bioluminescence.
Coral Garden embraces environmental themes that link to the Great Barrier Reef, and is designed to create conversation about the reef, to inspire curiosity and delight, and to increase knowledge.
Jo Stacey is an artist and sustainability officer based in Townsville. Her artworks express her love of community and sense of place, embracing sustainable living, concerns about the environment. Jo’s art practice encompasses printmaking, book binding, drawing and experimenting with different methods and mediums and cross-disciplinary collaboration to convey her visual story.
Adam Smith is a Townsville-based marine biologist, who expresses his love of the reef and marine environment with extensive works engaging with citizen science education. He aims to connect people to the wonder and beauty of the natural environment through learning and experiencing the outdoors. Adam’s mantra is “People will only truly care for the environment by being part of and experiencing nature.”
Bulana is Townsville City Council’s inaugural digital projection of First Nation artists for Ephemera 2025. The display includes works by five contemporary artists, demonstrating their connection to Saltwater Country and environmental awareness. These spectacular works were selected based on their potential for a visually arresting, upscaled projection display of colour to celebrate First Nation artists. Featuring the work of some high-profile established artists, the project also provides a momentous opportunity for emerging artists. Local man Jordan Kahle Wyles is acutely aware of the impact human activities has on yangugan, the saltwater turtles that inhabit the Wulgurukaba Sea Country environment. Other artists use a spectacle of colour to convey cultural understanding of their Saltwater Country. Agnes Wotton and Mahalia Mabo both focus on elements of the coral reefs along Palm Island and Townsville, using flamboyant colours to attract audiences and to encourage them to respect the beauty of coral reefs by leaving less traces on the environment. Well-established artist Brian Robinson also uses colourful flowers to convey his deep knowledge of traditional seasonal horticulture practices held by seafaring cultures of Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait). As an experienced artist, Susan Peters Nampitjin employs a micro–macro approach to capture the extraordinary nighttime bioluminescence expressed in electric blue colour.
Trish Barnard has more than 35 years’ experience across private and public sectors working on the interpretation of collections and the curation of numerous exhibitions. A third-generation descendant of the Yambina and Jangga people of central Queensland, she co-curated the landmark exhibition Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest at the Queensland Art Gallery in 2003 with Peter Denham. Her master’s research at James Cook University focused on issues associated with misrepresentation and misappropriation of Indigenous motifs. Trish has published widely, and is an Honorary Research Adviser with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Studies Unit at The University of Queensland and Senior Advisor with Peak Services. She has spent the past 10 years working as a freelance curator, researcher, content developer and interpretative writer, delivering national and international projects.
Russell Milledge is an accomplished creative professional who has been working in the art and design industry for over three decades. He has extensive experience in both visual and performing arts, and has collaborated with a variety of leading companies, presenting his work in numerous national and international programs and exhibitions. Russell’s works are featured in the collections of prestigious art galleries, such as the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and Cairns Art Gallery. He attended the National Art School in Sydney, obtained a Master of Fine Arts from Queensland University of Technology, and a PhD from James Cook University. Throughout his career, Russell has played a significant role in establishing several contemporary arts enterprises and spaces in Far North Queensland; he co-founded KickArts Contemporary Arts Ltd (now NorthSite Contemporary Arts), Bonemap, and the New Move Network.
Russell has a passion for the unique social and educational value of the arts, and has contributed to many partnerships within the sector. He has worked on several projects in partnership with Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns Festival, Indigenous Art Centre Alliance, Realtime Magazine, Ausdance, Cairns Regional Council, Museums and Galleries Services Queensland, Shine On Gimuy, and more. He is a highly sought after freelance designer for festivals, theatre, and gallery projects.
Each artwork is brought to life through Natalia Mann’s The Sonic Earth—a collective of musicians united by a shared practice of synaesthetic resonance composition. Working closely with local artists, the group includes Merindi Schrieber, William Mabo, Naomi Jean and Patty Preece to honour their deep connections to Country, culture and sound through collaborative creation.
The Blooms Continue to Flourish 2015
Custom-printed linen
48.9 x 13.9cm
Brian Robinson’s work communicates the variety of flowers produced to create a spectacle of colour across the Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait) region. The deep knowledge held by sea-faring cultures of Zenadth Kes Islanders has guided them on the appropriate times to nurture, gather, or to avoid food plants and animals in accordance with cultural protocols. As Robinson notes, seasonal horticulture is determined by the “movement of stars, constellations, tidal patterns and migration of birds and sea creatures”, and accompanied by song and fertility rituals to ensure an abundance of edible food. The Islanders’ seasonal calendar includes four distinct phases: Kuki (north-west winds) during the wet monsoon season between January and April; Sager (south-east winds), often referred to as ‘trade winds’ that brought Macassar fleets, which occur in the drier months of May through December; Zey (southerly winds), which deliver strong random winds throughout the year; and Naygay (northerly winds), which bring the most humid conditions from October to December.
Raised on Waiben (Thursday Island),
Brian Robinson has become a successful multidisciplinary artist who explores traditional customs associated with Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait) Islanders. Brian is an accomplished curator and artist, with works held in major national and international collections. Since 1997, his experiments with diverse mediums have produced exceptional contemporary interpretations of traditional practices informed by his inherited knowledge. He is therefore a strong advocate for the retention of cultural knowledge and embraces opportunities to express ancestral stories through large scale public art sculptures juxtaposed against a backdrop of contemporary life. Brian has a number of permanent installations along the foreshore of the Cairns Esplanade. He is currently developing an impressive, elongated sculpture titled Floriate for the new Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane, to convey connection to Country. The ornamental bronze work will serve as a permanent reminder for the long history of ceremony and storytelling at that location for thousands of years.
Acrylic on canvas
90 x 90 cm
Mahalia Mabo’s flamboyant use of rich colours reminds us of just how significant and majestic the Great Barrier Reef is, featuring more than 600 different types of coral. Before sea levels rose, Queensland’s eastern coastline extended seaward for approximately 200km and supported land-based hunting grounds for many First Nations Saltwater groups, including Wulgurukaba, Manbarra and Nywaigi people. Through knowledge transfer, Mahalia understands the importance of offshore Mugaa (coral reef) as a valuable ecosystem that once sustained her people with a healthy seafood diet.
Mahalia Mabo states: “My work is about memories, stories, personal connections and my connection to Country.” As a Saltwater woman, Mahalia has a strong connection to coral reefs and they are a significant part of her identity. She comes from a long line of artists and creatives, and she is an intuitive artist who expresses her Sea Country boldly through vibrant patterns to encourage views to observe reef environments more closely. The reef is a living entity that once supplied her people with an abundant food source. Through her paternal grandfather, she is connected to Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Straits and her paternal grandmother’s Country extends to the Great Barrier Reef and its creation story.
Yangugan (Saltwater Turtle) 2024
Acrylic on canvas
910 x 910 cm
Jordan Kahle Wyles is faithful to the traditional earthen colour palette used by his ancestors. Using contrasting light and dark colours for intensity, his work employs the stylised but identifiable crosshatching technique synonymous with Arnhem Land cultural groups. Intricate parallel lines surround the internal organs of the yangugan (saltwater turtle) that inhabit Wulgurukaba Sea Country. Yangugan are closely connected to Jordan’s identity and are an important totem and food source for Wulgurukaba people as a ‘celebration of life’. They are under threat due to entanglement with discarded fishing lines, nets and ingestion of nonbiodegrade plastics mistaken for food. Through cultural knowledge, Jordan is aware that Cleveland Bay is a key foraging area for turtles and home to six of seven species found on our planet. The impact and management of human activities therefore plays a critical role in the survival of turtles within Wulgurukaba Country.
Jordan Kahle Wyles has been painting for more than 25 years, expressing aspects of Wulgurukaba (canoe people) culture. Jordan is connected to the Gabulburra (carpet snake) clan of the Wulgurukaba people, who are Gurambilbarra (Townsville) Traditional Owners. Through his family, he has kinship affiliations with Warrgamay people in the Herbert River Valley area, Girramay (Cardwell region) and Jirrbal rainforest peoples from Herberton and Ravenshoe to the western section of Tully Gorge National Park. Jordan was actively involved with a Wulgurukaba dance troupe before committing to employment in the security business, with aspirations of joining the army.
Sea Anemone 2018
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 90 cm
Sea life plays a significant role in local culture and stories for Bwgcolman (Palm Island) residents. Agnes Wotton Jr has an affinity with sea anemones that move gently, enchanting her in silent contemplation towards inner peace as a “way of helping” her in everyday life. Sea anemones typically stay in one place during their lifetime and attach to reefs and other structures, only relocating if their environment is inhospitable. These sea creatures are valuable bioindicators of coral reef pollution because they can accumulate trace elements of contaminants and microplastics through absorption or ingestion.
Agnes Wotton Jr lives and creates art on the remote Aboriginal community of Bwgcolman (Palm Island). She is a proud Yidinji woman through her mother’s side and Kuku Yalanji through her father. Agnes is a self-taught artist with a strong affinity to colour and layered repetition, which she uses to convey particularly important elements within her local environment. She has been actively exhibiting her distinctive anemone paintings since 2019 and gained wide recognition after winning the People’s Choice Award at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair in 2020. As a Saltwater woman, Agnes is culturally connected to the coastal regions of North Queensland and the reef surrounding Palm Island.
Monoprint on paper
60 x 45 cm
In recent times, Susan Peters Nampitjin has been experimenting with diverse mediums, including inks on paper, which led to exploring the diversity of inland saltwater lakes, ocean landscapes and marine organisms. This work captures extraordinary bioluminescent cells through a micro–macro approach to articulate the spectacle of electric blue colour released by marine organisms in a dark night. Bioluminescence can be activated by a wave breaking or a splash, and it is mesmerising to witness and invites a quiet, still awareness of the ocean environment and an appreciation of nature.
As a very small child, Susan Peters Nampitjin (b.1963) was removed from her homelands in the Kimberley region by adoption and brought to Gurambilbarra (Townsville). Susan raised her family in Townsville with her husband Phillip in the 1990s and 2000s. Susan lived between Townsville, Rockhampton, and the Kimberleys, immersing herself with family, learning culture, lore and ceremony. After graduating from St Anne’s Anglican Girls School in Mundingburra, Susan made regular visits back to the Kimberley region to reconnect with her family and cultural group. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Community Welfare (James Cook University) and a Diploma in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts through the Barrier Reef Institute of TAFE. Susan began exhibiting acrylic paintings at Balgo in 1996 with Warlayirti Artists and later Yarliyil Art Centre (est. 1998) at Halls Creek. She is an accomplished and widely respected artist, with her works collected by regional and national galleries. Susan has been experimenting with the materiality of hessian, natural ochres and plant dyes in her most recent exhibitions at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Umbrella Studios and for her upcoming residency exhibit at NAP Contemporary in Mildura.
Art Snack Café - à la Cart(e) 2025
Timber, steel affixives, wheels, sand, charcoal, and concrete blocks as ballast 236 x 200 x 108 cm
Alan Tulloch extends his innovative drymedia print performances and installations through his Art Snack Café - à la Cart(e), presenting relational 3D print performances, strategically wheeling his Café along The Strand. He dons toque blanche and checkered pants to become Art Chef, cooking up not-so-normal cuisine in the form of threatened-to-extinct Townsville animals.
Menu items appear in a stroke, printing enticing and malleable images on patrons’ hands using powdered charcoal. Tulloch nudges old-school passivity away from charcoal to critically rearticulate it as incinerated life. The prints of threatenedto-extinct animals become materially connected with the passing of life. But all is not lost, visitors are encouraged to move their fingers to enliven their images, but the prints eventually disappear into the sands of time. Trace-less?
This is ephemeral (plus); this is moving (body, heart and hands); this is trace-less, (almost!). Some consolation arises through the Cafe’s dine-in and takeaway options, with facilities for visitors to record their Art Snack Cafe experiences on their mobile phones.
Ipswich artist Alan Tulloch has been developing a technique of dry-media screenprinting installations and performances since 2015, preceded by a much earlier floor stencil artwork, Carpet (1997). He has shown resultant work in projects between Bimblebox, north of Alpha, QLD (2015), and south to Rookwood, west of Sydney (2022) and Port Adelaide Enfield (2020) and is ever-keen to extend this technique and its multi-location applicability. In 2017, he won a Digital Queensland Regional Art Award, Float, printing a map of Queensland and the Galilee Coal Basin with coal dust onto water. As well as making works site-specific in focus, he often uses the materials of place (his dry media) to tell the stories of place. He rarely uses binding media or fixatives. Prints are left on the ground or other horizontal surfaces to dissipate, as they are subjected to elemental, animal, or mechanical actions. Photographed
Click here to vote for the People’s Choice Award
The Stain 2025
Line marking paint on grass 1000 x 1000 cm
The Stain. What is this indistinct formless pool on the ground? What has taken place here? The Stain fades so quickly and conveniently, yet remains etched in our memory. This mark, this inconsequential nothing, reflects the passage of humans on this Earth beyond sculpture, beyond painting, beyond lifetimes but connected to all stories and myths over the ages. The Stain is a record, an accusation but is also transitory and fragile. It can be washed away over and over but still remains in the heart. Walk into this site. It is not a place of monumentality but intimacy: an ephemeral area to reflect on the secrets that surround us and haunt us in the night.
Victorian-based artist Anthony Sawrey has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Sydney College of the Arts, 2007) and a Master of Fine Art (Victoria College of the Arts, 2009). While he majored in studio painting, he went on to create large-scale environmental art, utilising line marking fluids and motorised spray pumps. He has produced commissions for numerous exhibitions and clients, including Sculpture by the Sea Bondi (2013, 2024) and Cottesloe (2017, 2022), Lorne Sculpture Biennial (2014, 2016), Sculpture in the Vineyards Wollombi (2012–14), Moreland Sculpture Prize (2013–14), Melbourne Test Sites public arts program in 2016, SWELL Sculpture Festival (2022, 2024), and Beechworth Contemporary Art Prize (2022).
41 parts: Ceramic, wild clay, mid-fire clay, drill core pulp, and ash
50 x 567 x 7 cm (various sizes)
In Elemental, Natalie Ward uses the waste materials and byproducts from mining and geological exploration to create ceramic vases. The pieces in the installation are glazed using excess pulverised drill core extracted during geological exploration by local company Sunshine Metals. Each vase is glazed with a sequential metred sample, with the variation in colour and tone reflective of the differing elemental composition of the rocks. As with North Queensland’s long history with mining, so too is ceramics deeply intertwined with mining for the materials used for glazes and the sourcing of clay. This piece represents a collaboration between the arts and mining sectors, and looks at how the waste products from the latter could be used by the former, and how both practices could be conducted more sustainably.
Natalie Ward is an emerging ceramic artist currently residing in Townsville. Working primarily with wheel-thrown ceramics, her practice explores the intersection between functional forms and sculptural pieces. Born in Geelong, she made the move up north in 2022 and draws inspiration from the diverse landscape of North Queensland, particularly the rocks and the earth. Natalie’s current practice explores the local region through foraged materials, wild clays, and stains to evoke this geology. In 2024, she expanded on her interest in geology as visual inspiration and channelled this into a material inspiration. With the support of RAF and RADF grants, she commenced exploring and utilising the waste product of mining and geological exploration in her ceramics.
Click here to vote for the People’s Choice Award
Recycled 3D-printed PETG, recycled trash, and synthetic polymer paint
180 x 400 x 400 cm
Tide Walkers is a 3D-printed installation by Rising Sun FPV featuring two towering crabs—each standing 1.8 metres tall— and a hermit crab the size of a small dog, along with a mantis shrimp. Printed in PETG and hand-finished with acrylic paint, the sculptures integrate environmental storytelling with advanced fabrication methods. The crab carries pieces of discarded human waste as its shell, representing the adaptive strategies of nature in response to humans’ impact.
The PETG filament used in this work was made from recycled plastic with the help of RSX, Rising Sun FPV’s sister company, which specialises in filament extrusion and sustainable material innovation. In addition, members of Rising Sun FPV and their families have collected rubbish from Townsville and surrounding beaches, repurposing these materials into jewellery and embedded objects that adorn the sculptures—bringing real-world impact into the artwork itself.
Inspired by the theme of ‘Trace-less’, Tide Walkers reflects how natural life leaves only fleeting marks, while human waste persists—until nature reclaims it.
Rising Sun FPV is a Townsville-based creative collective led by Zak MartinTaylor. Specialising in drone racing, FPV systems, and industrial-scale 3D printing, the group transforms digitally driven processes into sculptural works that explore intersections between sustainability, technology, and ecology. The Tide Walkers project was made possible through collaboration with several veteran-owned businesses within RSFPV’s trusted creative network, including RSX (material and recycling solutions), S3DP (precision 3D printing), Standfast Acrylics (custom fabrication), and Spack. au (concept design and modelling).
Tide Walkers is the collective’s first large-scale sculptural piece created specifically for public exhibition. While the project explores familiar themes of impermanence, environmental responsibility, and adaptation, it does so through a new artistic lens. By stepping outside their technical comfort zone, Rising Sun FPV aims to spark conversation around human impact and nature’s quiet resilience—even in places where our presence is meant to be trace-less.
Cameron Robbins
Dream Studio 2025
Timber, bracing, paint, and repurposed objects
400 x 720 x 300 cm
Dream Studio is about a sense of beauty and wonder at the dynamic world of nature, and how an artist might work with this and express this to an audience.
Cameron Robbins was inspired to create wind-driven drawings directed by the weather and environment of the Townsville coast.
Dream Studio is an art installation and a functioning outdoor studio within the public realm. It reminds the public that artists are always at work, and that what they do has cultural importance.
The mechanical instrument drawings are inspired by natural energy. The motion of the pen can be described as “Periodic with a fractional degree of freedom”, relating to the orbits of astronomical bodies, stochastic bundles of information, the rotation of prayer wheels, and abstract painting.
Cameron has always been inspired by the scientific style of collecting data and creating a body of knowledge from this direct evidence, and this work demonstrates that process.
In the face of denial of science, especially regarding climate science, Cameron believes it is vital to keep reminding people of the process of direct and careful observation of our world and its fragile beauty.
Cameron Robbins works to make tangible the underlying structures and rhythms of natural forces. Using wind-powered drawing instruments, his installations transcribe the invisible energies of nature—the wind, the tides and light—to create drawings, photographs, and moving image works. These inquiries employ structural devices including kinetic wind or water-powered mechanical systems. Their aesthetic is the result of both careful engineering and resourcefulness. The outputs of these site-specific installations include wind drawings and sound compositions. These interpretations of the dynamics and scale of the physical world suggest the complexities of the unknown.
Recycled materials from school grounds, previous artworks and donations
200 x 400 x 150 cm
The ocean is affected by humans’ discarded items entering the ecosystem. This artwork uses some of these items before they can land in the water and cause damage. The jellyfish was chosen as the shape because of the link to turtles and their diet, and the harm caused by ingesting plastic waste.
The artwork was created by a group of students from the Visual Art department at Northern Beaches State High School in a collaboration between Years 9–12 and Certificate 1 in Visual Art students. The students participated in the collection, framing and assembly of the waste materials into the jellyfish form.
Click here to vote for the People’s Choice Award
Recycled artworks made of cellophane/card, plywood, pine baton, and clear polycarbonate sheets 240 x 420 x 170 cm
Underwater Windows depicts imagery from our endangered Great Barrier Reef. In line with the theme of ‘Trace-less’, these sculptural towers display recycled artworks by Year 10 Visual Arts in Practice students produced over the last three years. These illuminated stained-glass viewing boxes literally and metaphorically shine a light on endangered reef ecosystems. You are invited to contemplate their endangered beauty and how we can lessen our impact on marine environments.
The durable structural frameworks reflect with the school’s commitment to sustainability and will continue to illuminate students’ artworks in the school grounds after Ephemera.
Year 10 Visual Art in Practice students from the past three years at St Patrick’s College Townsville have produced ‘stained glass inspired’ artworks for public display, with a view to initiating discussion regarding the threats that are impacting our Great Barrier Reef. These artworks have involved collaboration between students to create images that can be seamlessly pieced together to create a larger artwork.
Click here to vote for the People’s Choice Award
Wicker, tissue paper, and solar lights
200 x 500 x 500 cm
From the Deep draws inspiration from Surrealism, the imaginative figures found in the margins of medieval illuminated texts (known as ‘marginalia’), and sea creatures from the deep that live in the waters beyond our beautiful Strand. For this work, the Year 10 and 11 students from Carinity Education Shalom have created a collection of creatures that have come to celebrate along The Strand. Lanterns are suspended from hooks to dance in the wind, mimicking their movement through the water. Made from wicker and paper, these lanterns will deteriorate over time, becoming trace-less. Hopefully, the amazing sea creatures that were the students’ inspiration won’t also disappear without a trace.
Carinity Education Shalom is a small independent Christian community school in Townsville on Wulgurukaba land that caters predominantly to First Nations students from Prep through to Year 12. For Ephemera 2025, art teachers Meg Allford and Rita Sinclair facilitated a group of students from Year 10 and 11 who worked on this project in class and on Friday afternoons for a term. Many of these students have drawn on traditional skills to construct the skeletons of their creatures, likening them to fish traps.
Click here to vote for the People’s Choice Award
Nature’s Impressions: Monuments for Environmental Stewardship
2024–25
Clay, recycled garden mesh, Arduino motion and thermal sensors, and lights
180 x 60 x 30 cm
This artwork responds to the rich experiences and environmental nuances of the Gurambilbarra location of The Strand, capturing the impressions left by its people, flora and fauna in the clay. Comprising large-scale totem poles constructed from ceramic tiles, each component is created by the Townsville Grammar School community, fostering collaboration and connection. The artwork also responds to the audience and its environment through an interactive motion and thermal sensor lighting system that illuminates the sculpture as people move around it, allowing for dynamic light patterns. This is an exploration of the impact we have on our environment, good and bad. Crafted primarily from clay, sourced from the earth, and wrapped around palm trees, synonymous with The Strand, the sculpture stands as a monument to environmental stewardship and the importance of walking gently on the land, inviting the audience to reflect on their relationship with nature.
Artists and art teachers Athena Costopoulos and Meg Taylor have led this community project at Townsville Grammar School. Prep to Year 12 students across all three campuses explored the symbiotic relationship humans have with nature. Athena is a multidisciplinary artist. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions. Athena’s recent practice centres around challenging the traditional use of materials and surfaces to create innovative artworks, often out of repurposed materials. This is her third collaborative artwork for Ephemera. Meg’s projects include working with murals, painting, textiles, and sculptural works. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions. Meg has coordinated RADF projects and Youth Strategic Initiative projects across the Charters Towers region. Her recent work investigates the use of symbolism to tell visual stories about place, belonging and the link between people, landscape and nature in our modern world.
Debris Couture 2025
Recycled materials
185 x 92 (various lengths)
The work encompasses a runway of models emerging out of Townsville’s ocean in wearable art, fashioned from recyclable products and waste, and heading straight up the foreshore of The Strand. This highlights the amount of rubbish found in the ocean that could be disposed of properly or repurposed into beautiful artwork. At the same time, other models walk towards the ocean with bulk amounts of trash, symbolising the amount of pollution we put into our ocean. The models walking out are fashioned in more stylish designs of wearable art, symbolising alternative uses of the rubbish. While trash can be turned into treasure, society needs to acknowledge and protect the treasure that is our land and sea by disposing of these items in the correct fashion.
Ryan Catholic College is Townsville’s largest Catholic College, with almost 2,000 students and 255 staff. The school’s size means students are offered a great depth in academic, sporting and extra-curricular pursuits. The school maintains a special caring culture by supporting individual students and their families and offering students the broadest range of academic, sporting and pastoral care available. Environmental sustainability is an integral part of our Catholic faith, curriculum and a strategic priority. The Diocese of Townsville is blessed with diverse landscapes and seascapes. Ryan Catholic College recognises care for creation is a sacred duty each person is responsible for. Ryan Catholic College strives to assist our communities to grow in wonder and appreciation of God’s creation, and together, journey toward living more sustainably and socially just.
Chalk 1998–ongoing
Chalk
20.32 x 50.8 cm (diameter) each
Chalk is an evolving interactive artwork that invites communities to engage in spontaneous mark-making, turning their surroundings into a large-scale collaborative chalkboard. Chalk fosters play and creativity, encouraging participants to reconnect with their inner child. The project began in 2002 in a public square in Lima, Peru, as part of the Bienal Iberoamericana de Arte. Installed in cities across the globe—including Peru, Boston, Paris, Mexico, New York, and Sydney—each iteration takes on a unique character, shaped by local culture, social dynamics, and political influences. In this way, Chalk becomes a living social portrait, reflecting the uniqueness of each city.
Puerto Rico–based artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla explore relationships between history, material culture and environmentalism through various artistic media, including performance, sculpture, sound, video, and photography. Their multifaceted approach emphasises both conceptual and material aspects, blending metaphor with fact. Their work includes studying ephemeral collective drawings with human-sized chalk sticks, creating temporary art spaces that foster creative self-expression, idea exchange, and social and political activism, serving as a platform for the public and reflections on modern society.
As part of the lead up to this year’s Ephemera: Trace-less, the Galleries team engaged Wulgurukaba Elders to identify an animal that is local to The Strand and nominate a local First Nation artist to conceptualise their chosen animal. The animal chosen was an olive-backed sunbird, drawn by Selwyn Johnson. Selwyn’s artwork was digitised so that it could be used throughout various pieces of promotional collateral for Ephemera. The sunbird element of the artwork was then re-imagined by our in-house design team to create the below mascot for Ephemera 2025.
Selwyn Johnson has lived in Townsville his whole life and is a proud Aboriginal artist. A descendant of the Wulgurukaba people (‘canoe people’), he is a Traditional Owner of Townsville. The Wulgurukaba people call their Country Gurambilbarra (Townsville) and Yunbenun (Magnetic Island). The artworks Selwyn creates draw heavily from his cultural identity.
It is back again! Originally included in Strand Ephemera 2009 as an artwork by Jan Hynes, The Pink Piano will be at Ephemera for public use from 19 July until 3 August. Members of the public are welcome to use The Pink Piano and fill the air with music. It’s also the meeting point for individual players or ensembles to play for the public. Please see the reserved times displayed nearby. Be alert for pop-up performances at other times...
Ephemera 2025 is set to be an actionpacked festival.
The program features a range of workshops and activities sure to engage and delight festival goers both young and old.
There will be a whole host of workshops at this year’s Ephemera, including sand sculpting, photography, a Family Fun Day and much, much more.
Keep your eyes peeled for workshops being released on What’s On Townsville, and get in quick as they will book out fast!
Use the map in this publication, or view it online, and discover the artworks along The Strand. Collect an Education Kit from the Ephemera information booth to guide you as you walk along The Strand. You will also find multiple interactive elements among the artworks to enjoy such as, the Canine Cut Out and the Viewing Frames.
Click here to learn more about Ephemera Programs
Interactives
Stand behind the Canine Cut Out and get a picture with your pooch! Or take a photo in the Viewing Frames! Perhaps you’ll take a photo of the view, create a family portrait, or maybe just admire the scenery through these picture-perfect frames!
Share your photos with us
@Townsvillecitygalleries
#Ephemera2025
Resources
Educational resources have been developed for self-guided learning adventures along The Strand. We have a fantastic Education Kit that has been created for secondary school aged students.
Simply head to our website to download and print at home, or collect a FREE printed copy from the Ephemera information booth at Strand Park.
Saturday 26 July 2025
10am – 12noon
Strand Park and Main Beach
Join us for a range of drop-in activities at Ephemera: Family Fun Day!
Flora Sculptures with Rochelle Morris
Sunbird collage with Townsville Citylibraries
Art Snack Café a la Cart(e) with Alan Tulloch
Click here to learn more about Family Fun Day
Sand Sculpting Worksh o ps with SandstormEvents
Lids to Pens Activity with Resource Recovery Townsville City Council
?
You can cast your vote online!
The most popular artwork, as judged by Ephemera visitors, will receive People’s Choice Award of $1,000. Voting closes 11.59pm, Friday 1 August 2025.
Capture your favourite moments at Ephemera for the chance to win some fantastic prizes!
To enter, simply upload your photograph to Instagram, and add the hashtag for the category you are wanting to enter.
Ephemera Youth (17 years and under)
#ephemerayouth
Winner
$500 Garricks Camera House Voucher
Runner-up
$250 Garricks Camera House Voucher
Ephemera Open (18 years and older)
#ephemeraopen
Winner
$1,000 Garricks Camera House Voucher
Runner-up
$250 Garricks Camera House Voucher
If your Instagram account is private, head to our website ephemera-tsv.com.au and use the competition link to upload your photograph.
Entries close 11.59pm, Sunday 3 August 2025. Winners will be announced on social media.
*For full T&Cs please visit our website ephemera-tsv.com.au
Rob Parsons, through his business Through the Looking Glass Studio, has been providing professional imaging services throughout Australia and overseas for 30 years. He thrives on the continual challenge to produce fresh, and innovative imagery of the highest quality and creative standards.
Proudly based in North Queensland, Rob has an intimate knowledge of the Tropical North and more broadly, Queensland. Coupled with his diverse expertise in photography, videography, drone and timelapse, his services are much sought after by businesses, governments, and individuals alike.
Discover the many amazing street art murals Townsville has to offer by taking a self-guided walking tour of the city using the Street Art Walking Trail: Augmented Reality edition map.
Watch out for augmented reality stickers near the street art murals and use your smartphone to transform the artworks into an augmented reality dreamscape.
Collect your FREE copy of the map available at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery or click here
The city’s street art scene is constantly evolving, so keep your eyes peeled for new works not on this map and follow Townsville City Galleries on social media to stay up to date.
Showcasing highlights from over 200 years of Wedgwood ceramics and design – straight from the UK’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
6 April – 24 August 2025
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Exclusive to Australia in 2025. Tickets on sale now.
What’s On Townsville
Click here to learn more about Wedgwood
5 July – 19 October 2025 | Pinnacles Gallery
by Bradley Vincent for Townsville City Galleries
A bold new exhibition about the power and the passion, the glory and the grunt of Rugby League through the eyes of some of the country’s most exciting contemporary artists. Join us for a fresh look at the game we love.
Click here to learn more about Leagues
Image credit: Samuel Leighton-Dore, Game Day 03 [detail], 2025 Image courtesy the artist
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery is Townsville’s premier regional art gallery, offering a dynamic range of local, national and international exhibitions complemented by workshops, talks and a host of other programs.
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Corner of Denham and Flinders Street, Townsville QLD 4810
Tue–Fri: 10am–5pm
Sat & Sun: 10am–1pm
Closed on Mondays, public holidays and during exhibition change overs.
(07) 4727 9011
galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au
whatson.townsville.qld.gov.au
Townsville City Galleries
TownsvilleCityGalleries
Pinnacles Gallery is a dynamic art space committed to community engagement, artistic development, and contemporary practice.
Pinnacles Gallery
Riverway Arts Centre
20 Village Boulevard, Thuringowa Central QLD 4817
Mon–Fri: 9am–5pm Sat: 9am–3pm Sun: 9am–1pm
Closed on public holidays and during exhibition change overs.
(07) 4773 8871
galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au
whatson.townsville.qld.gov.au
Townsville City Galleries
TownsvilleCityGalleries
Holly Arden Galleries Director
Tanya Tanner Senior Public Art Officer and Ephemera Project Lead
Rhiannon Mitchard Public Art Officer
Chloe Lausen Curatorial Assistant
Jo Lankester Senior Exhibitions and Collections Officer
Veerle Janssens Collection Management Officer
Michael Favot Exhibitions Officer
Zoe Seitis Exhibitions Officer
Rachel Cunningham Senior Education and Programs Officer to 8/5/25
Jonathan Brown Acting Senior Education and Programs Officer
Ashleigh Peters Education and Programs Officer
Maddie Bleakley Customer Service Officer to 28/6/25
Crysania Gadd Customer Service Officer
Shane Kim Customer Service Officer
Taylor Sopronick Gallery Assistant
Kirsten Browning Gallery Assistant
