Public Art Trail 2025

The Bright Signs by Emi Uili

yellow neon signs with positive messages

The Bright Signs by Emi Uili

The Bright Signs is an installation artwork for anyone who has ever felt disheartened or doubtful. Our inner monologues including self-talk and the internalised voices of others can shape our emotions and actions and leave a lasting impact. It’s important to catch the negative thoughts and turn them into something positive.

The Bright Signs seeks to empower students to believe in themselves and practice positive self-talk.

Location: Building 12, Level 4, RMIT City Campus

Quote from the artist:

When I was a teenager, I was told I would never be good enough to be an architect. I let that statement affect my future decisions. It took me a few years before I could move past the fear and self-doubt and decide to come to RMIT to study Architecture and create a new narrative for myself. Now I’m working towards fulfilling my dreams! - Emi Uili

Dunking Your Doubts by Joshua Sullivan

Dunking Your Doubts by Joshua Sullivan

We all have doubts from time to time – that inner critic who never seems satisfied. Dunking Your Doubts is about getting any negative or overly critical thoughts, worries or doubts out of your head and onto a piece of paper. From here, you’re invited to scrunch up the paper with your doubts into a ball, dunk them through the basketball hoop and straight into the bin where they belong! Take that, inner critic!

Location: Building 10, Level 3, City Campus (next to the escalator)

Quote from the artist:

I drew on my love of sports and fitness to develop a public artwork with a powerful wellbeing technique to help RMIT Students take better care of our mental health. As one of the “sporty boys”, I know this is a demographic that often struggles to take care of or talk about our mental health. Even though there is science to show it works, doing something like journalling can feel a bit out of our comfort zone so framing that by dunking your doubts in a basketball hoop makes this wellbeing technique feel a lot more fun. After all dunking is the most powerful thing you can do in basketball - Joshua Sullivan

Connect The Dots by Sophie Stavrakis

Connect the Dots is an interactive public artwork that embraces a spirit of adventure and curiosity. Find stories from people who study, work, and share knowledge in RMIT’s City North Precinct that have been made visible on bright yellow dots scattered over the precinct. There's no start or finish - just exploration!

Location: RMIT Campus City North Precinct

Quote from the artist:

I spent three years of my degree in the same circled building and my understanding of RMIT as a campus was limited to a singular footpath. It wasn’t until I was in my final year of uni that I strayed off my well-trodden track to go exploring... and I’m so glad I did!

The yellow circles of Connect the Dots are a visual reference to the RMIT Design Hub where I attended nearly all of my classes throughout my Bachelor of Architectural Design. One day, a mysterious bright yellow puddle of paint appeared right out the front of the Design Hub and suddenly my path was covered in other people’s yellow footprints. The footprints of the people who shared this space, this path, this journey with me. I began to wonder about the lives of the people who had created them. The yellow paint became a metaphor for all those unseen lives and untold stories. - Sophie Stavrakis

Slow Down by Anaya Shahid

Slow Down invites students to participate in slow mindful collage workshops. Setting an intention for your wellbeing and allowing space to create uncritically is a lovely way to practice being present. Collaborative mindful collage created by students during Orientation and the Creative Long Table Sessions will then be curated into larger collage works by student artist Anaya to be scaled up and installed across campus.

Location: Building 78 and the Creative Long Table Sessions: Building 12, Level 4, City Campus (the long tables behind the RMIT Store before the RUSU office)

Quote from the artist:

I have been making collages since high school but this year I found myself turning to collage as a mindfulness practice as well as a creative outlet. I felt like I was always rushing - to class, rushing to work, rushing home again - and I was not present. Practicing collage allowed me to slow down, unwind and take my time. I wanted to share this feeling of calm and slowness with other students. - Anaya Shahid

Light Lines by Chunting Wu (Tin)

Light Lines is a nature-inspired creative meditation practice that invites students to take time to notice the beauty of the natural world. The artwork consists of a facilitated experience where participating students observe the movement of shadows cast by trees, nature and each other across the architecture of RMIT and trace these shadows using chalk.

Location: Outside of Building 66, City North Campus (Earl St)

Quote from the artist:

I am very interested in exploring light and shadow. When I take a moment, I can feel the sunlight shine on my face, I can feel relaxation and comfort seep into my body. In a world where the speed of life may feel unrelenting, I found myself drawn to slow deliberate actions, feeling the warmth of the sun and the coolness of shadow on my body, observing the shapes cast by the trees onto the wall, noticing their movement over time. I cherish these moments of stillness, connecting with nature, the small pleasures of seeing and sensing the world around us. - Chunting Wu (Tin)

Sticking Together by Ngoc Khanh Truong (Marvis)

two people smiling at camera with paper drawings in hand

Sticking Together by Ngoc Khanh Truong (Marvis)

Sticking Together invites students to meet a new friend, ask each other the playful ice breaker questions in the Sticking Together booklet and then make a unique gift for their new friend using the sticker template and abundance of creative materials. This act of connection and giving turns new acquaintances into firm friends.

Location:Building 12, Level 4, City Campus (the long tables behind the RMIT Store before the RUSU office)

Quote from the artist:

Friendship is a gift in itself - that's the essence of Sticking Together. Gifting is truly important to me, and I want to share the power of gifting to our student community, especially to those who are new to RMIT and looking to make new friends. With a background in Communication Design, I used cute little stickers as a tool to strengthen friendships and explore creativity in each student. And the gift for me as a creator is seeing beautiful connections formed through my project! - Ngoc Khanh Truong (Marvis)

ConnectUs by Jade Armstrong

ConnectUs by Jade Armstrong

Orientation. Meeting new people. Conversations. These can be overwhelming and daunting. Yet, it’s how new friendships begin. ConnectUs is a bespoke game made using Connect4 as a template with conversation prompts added to each of the tokens. The conversation prompts have been carefully designed by the student artist using psychologists research into forming meaningful human connections.

Note: ConnectUs is only available on certain days

Clay Play by Jessica Dybing

Clay Play invites students to sculpt colourful therapy clay into a form that resonates with them and then place their clay avatar on a map of RMIT City campus. A looping time lapse video of all the colourful clay avatars filling up the campus map will be projected on screens around campus.

Note: Clay Play is only available on certain days

Long Table Sessions

The Long Table Sessions are a low-key event series for students to drop-in, hang out, and get creative! There is no pressure to stay for the whole time. No materials or prior creative experience required – this is open to anyone and everyone. You don't have to be an artist. Rock up to use all of our materials and be guided by gentle facilitation, or bring along something of your own that you’ve been working on!

Location: Building 12, Level 4, City Campus (the long tables behind the RMIT Store before the RUSU office)