NGV: Making Good

Melbourne, Australia
2025-26

Exhibition piece displayed at the National Gallery of Victoria for the ‘Making Good: Reimagining the Everyday’ exhibition (August 2025 - February 2026).

The work is a 1.2 metre-high Oyster Terrazzo column originally developed for the Pier Pavilion, a new civic building on the Sydney Harbour foreshore. The piece reimagines terrazzo as a civic material, tied to place and composed of naturally-formed materials. It was made using Sydney Rock Oyster shells collected from local restaurants and aquaculture farms, in a cementitious mix consisting ochres, recycled aggregates, calcium carbonate and water.

As the surface is honed, the shapes and colours of the shells are revealed, creating ornamentation that references Sydney Harbour’s cultural and environmental history.

National Gallery Victoria
Gemma Savio
Besley & Spresser
Terrazzo Australian Marble
Mahaffey Associates

Hamish McIntosh
Sean Fennessy
Client
Curation
Design
Fabrication
Materials Science

Column Photography
Event Photography