Photographs of a former artwork were projected during a series of night-time walks for the Coburg Close Up project in June 2026.
The artwork the projections were based on was Magic Carpet Chinese Ghost Market Garden, a painted footpath created on the site of a former Chinese market garden in Bridges Reserve, Coburg, by myself and Mary Zbierski-West in 2010.
We had originally painted a carpet pattern on a footpath that was designed to disappear within a year as an entrant in the ephemeral category of the 2009 Moreland Sculpture Prize, but we were awarded the prize for the permanent category on the basis of painting a longer lasting version, which was to last at least five years. The second version lasted well beyond the five years, then slowly began to get patchy, eventually it was covered in grey paint by Council, but then… the artwork re-emerged as the grey paint started peeling off! There are still traces of the artwork in Bridges Reserve, but it has almost faded away, so it was great that it had a new burst of life in another format over a couple of winter evenings. Coburg Close Up told hidden stories about the suburb, and was presented by Merri-bek Council working with The Little Projector Company, based on research and writing by the team at Writing Days.
To see a clip of the projection based on the artwork go to the Writing Days website and scroll down!