Play with your words by Noёlle Nash-Austrin (age 10), temporary sculpture produced by SCAPE Public Art, summer 2025-26

December 2025

The rainbow swing is designed by Noёlle Nash-Austrin, a 10-year-old student at Ao Tawhiti. The identity of the people pictured is unknown. The swing was a winning entry in SCAPE Public Art's Inside Out competition 2025, which invited children to submit designs for public art in response to the theme The Limits of Language. SCAPE produced the artwork full-size using a swingset donated by New Zealand company gobaplay. The rainbow and coloured wrap was done at Signtech. It was installed in the South Quad of Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre for SCAPE Season 2025, 7 November 2025 to 1 February 2026. Noelle wrote in her entry: "My artwork shows that sometimes it's hard for adults to talk with younger people. I want to tell adults that you don't need to use your words, you can talk through play. Sometimes kids are shy, so they can express themselves through play. You're never too old to have fun and we can all express ourselves in many ways."

Creator: Heather Milne for SCAPE Public Art

Area: Central City / Central Christchurch - West

Reference ID: CCL-DW-203261

Uploaded by: SCAPEPublicArt

Copyright status: In copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License