An incredible, giant “melanoma” is growing on Tamarama beach in Sydney. It is part of the annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition. And it has a message for a sun-loving city on the eve of summer – keep your skin safe from the sun. 18,257 cases of melanoma were diagnosed in Australia in 2023. Despite all the warnings, that number has grown by nearly 3,000 since 2019 and it is still Australia’s third most common cancer.
The Spot started at around five metres and continues to grow to over 20-metres-wide.
The powerful art installation was created by two Ogilvy creatives, Ogilvy Health, Glue Society and The Beautiful and Useful Studio.
The Spot’s message about skin sun safety was reinforced over the weekend with free on-site skin checks courtesy of not-for-profit, Skin Check Champions, teamed with skin safety education and sampling through a partnership with La Roche-Posay. The project has been co-funded by Bristol Myers Squibb and La Roche-Posay.
Ogilvy Sydney group creative director, Andrew Hankin, explained, “Sculpture by The Sea, Bondi is one of the most important events in Sydney. But it’s not just a great place for a walk and a look at some amazing art, it’s a great place to use art to talk to important issues such as sun safety.
“When two in three Aussies will get some form of skin cancer in their lives it feels like constantly raising awareness for this issue is important. And using art at the beginning of summer to do that feels like an authentic way to get the message across.”
Sculpture by The Sea founding CEO & artistic director, David Handley AM, added, “With 450,000 visitors to visit the exhibition before it’s close on Monday 4 November, The Spot, which is one of more than 100 sculptures in this year’s exhibition, is able to use the platform of Sculpture by Sea to highlight important sun safety messaging as we head into another Australian summer.”
Andrew Hankin was also the brain behind one of the most striking ever Sculpture by the Sea exhibits, exactly ten years ago – two people inside a giant frying pan in the sand – also on Tamarama beach, and also with an unignorable sun safety message. Here is its story:
