NRI Gujarati woman to transform Australia’s railway station

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 December 2011

Gujarat born UK based artist Anu Patel has been awarded a project of $ 1.7 million public art installation at Australia’s Chelsea Railway Station. The project aims to transform the station from dark and drab to safe and welcoming.

Patel will lead a series of workshops over coming months to channel community ideas into a design for this project.

The project is jointly funded by Arts Victoria, the State Government and Kingston Council.

The Bacchus Marsh artist, who moved to Australia five years ago, is best known for her work in the Mons Parade pedestrian underpass in Noble Park and stainless-steel sculptures at Oakleigh Recreation Centre and Williamstown Botanic Gardens.

Patel said that while it was still “very early days” the Chelsea project would likely incorporate lots of colour and some cut metal work in the design.

“The idea is to make the station a much more attractive public space people enjoy using,” she said.

St Joseph’s, Chelsea and Bonbeach primary schools have already taken part in the project, and Patel said more workshops and feedback would be generated from a shopfront studio to open opposite the station next year.

Anu Patel (Anuradha Patel) was born in Gujarat, India and came to England in 1972, having spent a few years in Uganda, East Africa. After her secondary education in Essex, I went onto study BA Fine Art at Lanchester Poly. Coventry.

Chelsea station opened on 4 February 1907. It is a railway station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in the suburb of Chelsea, on the Frankston railway line.