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Ōtautahi Christchurch’s cityscape will once again be transformed when SCAPE Public Art Season 2025 opens on 7 November 2025, running until 1 February 2026.
This year’s theme, the limits of language, invites artists to explore how ideas move beyond words, using public art to test the borders of communication, connection and expression.
The artist line-up for Season 2025 brings together leading Aotearoa New Zealand and international voices:
● Vaimaila Urale (Samoa) – an interdisciplinary artist whose ASCII-based graphic compositions merge digital language with traditional Samoan motifs, exhibited widely across Aotearoa and internationally. Urale is based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
● George Watson (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Mutunga, Moriori) – artist whose practice spans painting, installation, and writing. Watson is based in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa Poverty Bay. Watson’s work has been shown around the country, most recently at Robert Heald Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington (2025); The Physics Room, Christchurch; Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; and Hastings Art Gallery.
● Gus Dark – a Balinese illustrator and activist whose visual work blends art with social critique, from anti-corruption campaigns to environmental advocacy, and has been shown in Indonesia, Switzerland and the USA.
● Sabin Holloway – photographer and cinematographer based in Ōhinehou Lyttelton whose work finds beauty in the unexpected, bridging commercial and artistic worlds.
● Nichola Shanley – multidisciplinary artist based in Ōhinehou Lyttelton known for cross-genre works in silk, ceramics and light, drawing on mythology, ritual, and the sacred and profane.
● Mollie Shaw – an Ōtautahi Christchurch designer, who recently graduated from the Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury. Shaw uses visual communication to interrogate migration, power, and systems of control.
Alongside work by these professional artists, SCAPE will unveil two murals and two sculptures by winners of its ‘Inside Out’ aspiring artist competition for school students. These works will respond to the same theme, demonstrating the creativity of young people across Ōtautahi and showcasing the future of public art in Aotearoa.
SCAPE Public Art Executive Director Rachel Jefferies says the 2025 programme will resonate with audiences across the city:
“The limits of language is about what happens when words fail us – and how art can step in to bridge that gap. This year’s artists bring diverse perspectives that will spark fresh conversations in Ōtautahi Christchurch’s streets and public spaces.”
Since 1999, SCAPE has transformed Ōtautahi into a city where people encounter cutting-edge contemporary art in their daily lives, enhancing shared spaces and creating lasting cultural landmarks. Season 2025 continues this legacy, with works that are bold, challenging, free to view, and accessible to all.