International Women’s Day 2026
Image credit: Chaco Kato, White Nest no. 6, McClelland Sculpture Survey and Award 2012.
To mark International Women’s Day 2026, Balance the Scales, Mornington Peninsula Shire presents a new ephemeral public artwork by interdisciplinary artist Chaco Kato.
The project recognises the many ways women sustain cultural knowledge through everyday practices — from handmaking and repair to nurturing environments and communities.
Kato’s work reflects how creativity is often embedded in daily life, and how women’s contributions are expressed through ongoing, often unseen labour rather than permanent or monumental forms.
Exhibition dates: Sunday 8 March – Sunday 19 April 2026
Location: Community Grow and Play Garden - Lyons Street, Rye
Launch: Sunday 8 March at 11am
Join us for the launch of Chaco Kato's public art installation for IWD with a musical performance by Ayako Fujii and a guided sound bath.
Lineup:
Music by Ayako Fujii: 11am-12pm
Vocal Sound Bath: 1pm-2pm
Click on the link to reserve your spot and find out more about the programs.
About the artwork
Chaco Kato’s installation draws on her life-long artistic practice, exploring the relationship between fragility and resilience through hand-made, temporary structures.
Working with repurposed yarns, bamboo and reused materials, the artwork responds directly to its garden setting. Transparent weaving moves gently with the wind, inviting visitors to pause, reflect and experience the Pocket Park in a new way.
The work offers a quiet, meditative encounter — encouraging audiences to slow down and re-see the garden through light, movement and material.
Impermanence is central to the installation. Its temporary nature reflects vulnerability and strength, while acknowledging the ongoing acts of care, repair and reuse that underpin everyday life and community resilience.
Public Program
Across the six-week exhibition period, the installation will be supported by a public program of live music, workshops and participatory activities.
The program invites community members to engage more deeply with the themes of making, care, sustainability and connection to place, extending the artwork beyond the installation itself and into shared experiences across the site.
About the Artist
Chaco Kato is an interdisciplinary artist based in Narrm/Melbourne, working across sculpture, installation, drawing and community-based projects.
Her practice centres on slow, process-led making, often using everyday materials through weaving, knotting and site-responsive installation. Influenced by her Japanese upbringing, Kato explores impermanence, change and handmaking, drawing on bricolage aesthetics and the spirit of Zen Punk.
Collaboration and negotiation are central to her approach, with projects responding to social, ecological and spatial contexts through temporary and ephemeral forms.
Kato is a founding member of Slow Art Collective (established 2009 with Dylan Martorell), a practice focused on sustainability, collaboration and community engagement through DIY and process-based approaches.
She and the Slow Art Collective have presented work nationally and internationally, including at t Exploratorium (San Francisco), McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Powerhouse Museum, MPavilion, the National Gallery of Victoria, Gertrude Contemporary and Esplanade Singapore.