Andrew Atchison, has been commissioned to create Flower Pavillion, a memorial that will create a sanctuary for friends and family of loved ones who have died of suicide and were members of Yarra’s LGBTIQA+ community to be established at the Collingwood Town Hall Park.

The memorial acknowledges the diversity of identity and ethnicity within Yarra’s LGBTIQA+ community, including Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung, Chinese, Greek, Vietnamese, Japanese, English, Irish, and Scottish demographics.

“As a whole, the ‘bouquet’ becomes a shared symbol of this multifaceted, interconnected community, each segment of which has been affected by suicide,” says artist Andrew Atchison. “It will bathe visitors in shifting coloured light – sometimes a soft wash, other times rich and vivid—depending on the sun’s position in the sky.” To balance the weightlessness of light, the bronze ring acts as a tie and grounding anchor, a reliable touch point that the artist hopes, in time, will be polished by many hands. Yarra City Council Mayor, Cr Stephen Jolly says that ultimately, Council wanted to create a space that honoured the memory of those we have lost. “We hope that family and friends of those who died of suicide will find some comfort here.”