A small area in Elsternwick Park South will be closed next week to prepare for the installation of ‘Spirit of Place’ – a new public artwork from master blacksmith studio Bent Metal.

A 10m x 10m area at the corner of New and Head Streets will remain fenced between 22 - 31 March 2021 to ensure safety during works to remove contaminated soil and lay the artwork’s concrete foundation. The artwork is expected to be installed in late April/early May 2021.

With its tall iron reeds, ’Spirit of Place’ will be a distinctive part of the park experience, encouraging social interaction and quiet reflection in park visitors who can experience the piece from an enclosed rippled iron bench.

The artwork commemorates the park’s natural and social history through the names of events, people, flora and fauna stamped on its ironwork, and recognises the traditional owners of the land on which it sits, the Yalukit Willam clan of the Boon Wurrung.

‘Spirit of Place’ is the third public artwork commissioned through the Bayside Arts Strategic Plan 2018-2022, and fulfils all four of the objectives of Council’s Art and Heritage Policy.