Ballarat Empty Plinth Project

2026-2027
Intercultural Gardens, Ballarat, Victoria
Powder-coated steel

Myriad of Lights 万家灯火 is a permanent public sculpture created for Ballarat’s Intercultural Gardens as part of the City of Ballarat’s Empty Plinth Program.

The work draws inspiration from the history of Chinese migration to Ballarat during the gold rush and from the southern Chinese tradition of decorative lanterns 花灯. Developed through consultation with members of Ballarat’s Chinese community, the sculpture reflects ideas of journey, resilience, cultural contribution, belonging and hope.

Its layered red-and-gold powder-coated steel frames form a contemporary lantern silhouette. The open structure allows light, shadow and views of the surrounding landscape to pass through, so the work shifts as visitors move around it. Rather than presenting the lantern as a closed object, the sculpture becomes a spatial framework through which light, place and people intersect.

The title Myriad of Lights 万家灯火 evokes the image of many lights glowing from homes at night — individual lives and stories forming part of a larger collective landscape. Within Ballarat, the work acknowledges Chinese heritage while also speaking more broadly to migration, intercultural connection and the ways communities contribute to a shared sense of place.

My architectural background informed the work’s layered construction, rhythm, transparency and relationship to the existing plinth, bringing together public art, spatial design and fabrication.

Commissioned by: City of Ballarat
Program: Empty Plinth Program
Supported by: Multicultural Arts Victoria
Fabrication and installation: Trevilla Engineering & Design
Engineering: TGL Engineering Group