SCAPE Public Art People's Choice

Vote for your favourite artwork. Prize package worth over $400!

SCAPE is a charity which produces inspiring art for everyone

We appreciate any donation, large or small

Explore public art in the city

Ōtautahi Christchurch has a growing collection of contemporary public art. For details about artworks, select 'Public Art' from the menu at the top of this page. Red dots: permanent public art produced by SCAPE. Blue dots: temporary art produced by SCAPE for Season 2025: The Limits of Language. Black dot: Season 2024 work, at Hotel Montreal, which remains in place for the time being.

The Limits of Language

SCAPE Season 2025 is OPEN NOW & FREE all summer

DOWNLOAD A PRINTABLE A4 MAP HERE: SCAPE_A4_MAP_Oct2025_FA

7 November 2025 – 1 February 2026

Free contemporary art from New Zealand and Indonesia, accessible for everyone.

WHO WILL WIN THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE?

Your vote puts you in the draw for a fabulous prize, comprising:

Dinner and drinks for two at Hotel Montreal, up to the value of $250, plus
Two Premiere tickets to The Importance of Being Earnest at Court Theatre

VOTE NOW

Fragmented Belonging, 2024

My work explores how systems of power shape identity and belonging. Using visual communication, I interrogate migration, bureaucracy, and surveillance, ...

O Le Sami Po Uliuli II, 2025

O le Sami Po Uliuli II is a deeply personal work that weaves a visual story through patterns and old-school ...

selected illustrations

My work begins where words fall short. I use images to speak about things that are hard to explain — ...

To Meet at the Gateway, 2025

There is a single thread that connects everyone, everything, every action. It is like a line of spider web, strong ...

Doctrines, 2025

Doctrines is an enlarged version of a sculptural work that artist George Watson made with a blacksmith. It was exhibited ...

Play with your words, 2025

My artwork shows that sometimes it’s hard for adults to talk with young people. I want to tell adults that ...

Lost for words, 2025

This sculpture connects to the theme because sometimes you have big emotions on the inside but you don’t have the ...

Climbing the steps of your life, 2025

When I first came to NZ, I only had basic English. It was hard to connect and to make friends. ...

Our world of symbols, 2025

My drawing shows how humans try to express themselves, but symbols, nature, and emotions speak in ways that words cannot. ...

Projects

View all projects

Season 2025

SCAPE Public Art Season 2025 opens to the public on Friday 7 November. The Theme 2025: The Limits of Language ...

Featured artists

View all artists

Vaimaila Urale

Vaimaila Urale is a Samoan-born interdisciplinary artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. She has ancestral ties to the villages of ...

George Watson

George Watson is an artist based in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, with Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Mutunga whakapapa and Moriori hokopapa. George has ...

Gus Dark

Born in East Bali on 21 July 1982, during the height of the dry season, Gus Dark is a Balinese ...

Nichola Shanley

Nichola Shanley was born in Waimana and received a Bachelor of Visual Art from the Auckland University of Technology in ...

Sabin Holloway

Sabin Holloway was born in 1968 in Invercargill. Sabin studied photography in Christchurch. He now lives and works in Lyttelton. ...

Mollie Shaw

Mollie Shaw is a graphic designer based in Ōtautahi and a 2024 graduate of the Ilam School of Fine Arts ...

News

View all news

Great SCAPE Art Heist ends happily

No furniture escalators were harmed in the making of this true story. Recent events in Ōtautahi Christchurch prove you don’t ...

From Student Winner to Festival Artist

Ōtautahi Christchurch artist Mollie Shaw has come full circle with SCAPE Public Art. Five years after being named a winner ...

SCAPE announces new Executive Director

Ōtautahi Christchurch-based arts leader Rachel Jefferies has been appointed Executive Director of SCAPE Public Art, Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading producer ...

Art expands minds

SCAPE Public Art’s education programme provides unique art-making activities inspired by public art in their city.

Teachers can choose from a range of options to suit their curriculum focus. All are free of charge.

More information here

Art
Shop

View all products

Nathan Ingram & you, Reconfiguration, 2025

$1000

View product

Gus Dark, Freedom of the Press SCAPE tote bag, 2025

$50

View product

Nichola Shanley & Sabin Holloway, To Meet at the Gateway, 2025

$2353

View product

Jono Stone, Mārama Taonga (moon), 2025

$575

View product

Jono Stone, Te Ao Taonga 1 (earth), 2025

$460

View product

Jono Stone, Te Ao Taonga 2 (earth), 2025

$460

View product

KOHA

Help us to provide free-to-view artworks and education programmes – we appreciate your support!

Donate Now

Events

View all events

Free public art walk, 18 Jan

January 18, 2026 10:30 am

See the city afresh on this easy walk featuring new contemporary art. This year’s route features the Botanic Gardens, Arts Centre, and paths near the river.

View event Book now