arts

Red Ochre Award winner Sandra Hill continues public art legacy

Phoebe Blogg Published October 7, 2026 at 12.15pm (AWST)

Year 3 students from Subiaco Primary School created ceramic tiles using natural materials gathered from the local area. (Image: supplied)

Almost 30 years after creating a landmark public artwork in Subiaco, Red Ochre Award recipient Sandra Hill has continued its story through a new collaboration with ceramic artist Jenny Dawson and local schoolchildren.

Hill, a Noongar visual artist, Elder, and cultural consultant, and Dawson first collaborated on the Subiaco Centenary Tiles, commissioned in 1996 and launched in Postal Walk in 1997.

Their new artwork, Nanninup, has been created for Rupert Street Pocket Park and continues the Wagyl's journey from Postal Walk to the new public space.

Nanninup means "a place to stop and res"'. The work includes Hill's engraved Wagyl design, six ceramic works introducing the Noongar Six Seasons, and her written history of Wandaraguttagurrup, now known as Subiaco.

Hill received the Red Ochre Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in 2023, recognising her significant contribution to Indigenous arts and culture. Her practice encompasses public art, printmaking, sculpture, installation, and work grounded in cultural knowledge, Country, and community. As with the original project, local children contributed to the new work.

Year 3 students from Subiaco Primary School created ceramic tiles using natural materials gathered from the area. Each student made two tiles: one for permanent installation and another presented to them to keep at a school assembly on September 17.

*Sandra and Jenny pictured in 1996. (Image: Peter Zuvela)*

*Red Ochre Award recipient Sandra Hill has created a new collaboration with ceramic artist Jenny Dawson and local schoolchildren. (Image: supplied)*

Dawson said involving children again was central to the project.

"We wanted to work with children again to encourage community involvement and ownership of the artwork," she said.

"It was also a very interesting way to tie into the original work, which was commissioned in 1996.

"The children's tiles use colour, texture, and imagery reflecting the natural environment of the area. Bushland textures and patterns are prominent, and leaves used in the designs have been taken from the areas of remnant bushlands nearby - enabling the work to celebrate a real sense of place."

Nanninup extends an artistic relationship spanning almost three decades while creating a permanent connection between another generation of children, community, and place.