WATCH | Brian Robinson on Floriate
Onespace is excited to congratulate Brian Robinson on the launch of his impressive new public sculpture, Floriate. The work was unveiled on Friday afternoon, 6 March, with a smoking ceremony by Tribal Experiences at the newly opened Glasshouse Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), on the traditional lands of the Turrbal and Jagera Peoples.
Brian is a nationally and internationally recognised visual artist. He is of the Kala Lagaw Ya and Wuthathi language groups of the Torres Strait. In responding to the materials that comprise the Glasshouse Theatre—taking inspiration from the unique environments of Queensland—Robinson’s stunning ‘Floriate’ piece emulates Queensland’s natural flora of the Seven Watersheds, celebrating its intrinsic connection to First Nations people across the State.
The sculpture is significantly positioned at the entrance of the Glasshouse Theatre. This state-of-the-art venue represents an historical investment in Queensland’s cultural sector, now making QPAC the largest performing arts centre in Australia. QPAC Chief Executive, Rachel Healy, said Brian Robinson is now part of “one of Australia’s biggest and busiest cultural precincts as we move towards the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Interwoven with flowering plants that flourish throughout Queensland, the four-metre-high bronze sculpture takes on a curvilinear form that suggest the key river systems that connect to South Brisbane through the South East, Wallum, Central, Wet Tropics, Murray-Darling, Lake Eyre and Bulloo, and Western Cape and Gulf. Robinson has intricately carved native flora that has sustained First Nations People with vital resources for tens of thousands of years. Such designs are accompanied by Robinson’s recognisable patterning of ancestral mythologies, customs, and the marine ecosystems of the Torres Straits.
This latest major public sculpture for the Queensland Cultural Centre collection was commissioned by Brisbane-based global arts powerhouse, Urban Art Projects (UAP), and outstanding First Nations design agency, Blaklash, who collaborated in curating and fabricating ‘Floriate’ alongside Robinson. This commissioning team ensured that the final sculpture expresses its connection to Country and was fabricated to the highest international standards.
As art consultants on this project, Natasha Smith, the Director of Curatorial at UAP, states that “We were excited to work with Brian again to deliver Floriate, an extraordinary public artwork that embodies the rich heritage of Queensland’s First Nations peoples that will be enjoyed by many audiences for years to come.”
The public opening of ‘Floriate’ on Saturday, 7 March 2026, comes at a significant moment in Robinson’s extraordinary career as Australia’s leading Torres Strait Islander public artist. Many will recall Robinson’s carvings from the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, of which he designed the Athletes’ Parade Track for the Opening Ceremony, seen by a momentous global television audience of 1.5 billion people. In 2025 alone, Robinson’s artworks were showcased inside the Expo 2025 Osaka Australia Pavillion, and he also designed the stunning medallion for the 2025 Prime Minister’s Prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge Systems.
Following such success, 2026 promises to be yet another exciting year for Brian Robinson. Brian will be showing a solo exhibition with Onespace from July to August and Onespace will present Robinson at the 2026 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF). He will also be presenting major solo exhibitions at the Newcastle Art Gallery, Artspace Mackay and Mossenson Galleries later this year.
The artist and Onespace thank and acknowledge all those who contributed to realising this significant project. Many thanks to the Queensland Government, Arts Queensland, Department of Energy and Public Works, and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre for delivering the monumental Glasshouse Theatre—designed by Blight Rayner & Snøhetta architects—and subsequently commissioning ‘Floriate.’ We express our sincere gratitude to Urban Art Projects (UAP) and Blaklash, who collaborated in designing and fabricating ‘Floriate’.
Onespace proudly recognises Brian Robinson and his significant contribution of Floriate to the Glasshouse Theatre that will welcome visitors to the Queensland Cultural Centre for the decades to come. We also acknowledge Brian’s representative gallery in Subiaco, Mossenson Galleries.
Video and Images: Photos by Rachel See, courtesy of Brian Robinson and UAP | Urban Art Projects.
