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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Tom Gill

‘A meditative practice’: the Australian Sand Sculpting Championships 2025

Sculpture at The Australian Sand Sculpting Championships, Frankston, Victoria Australia.
The Australian Sand Sculpting Championships’ theme this year is ‘The Villains of Storytime’. Photograph: Peter Tarasiuk/The Guardian

They say life’s a beach, but whoever coined that phrase probably wasn’t looking at today’s economic and political landscape – or they had an incredible sense of humour. Much like the artists at this year’s Australian Sand Sculpting Championships, which returned to Frankston foreshore, just south of Melbourne, for the first time since 2019.

This year’s event had a playful take on our polarising times; its theme is “The Villains of Storytime”, and sculptors responded with giant sand-made depictions of familiar witches and wolves from fairytales and Disney movies. Looking around, visitors can see a big bad wolf, Ursula from The Little Mermaid and a mythical siren calling to unsuspecting sailors.

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