Vipoo Srivilasa 

Ka-plonk! 

Twitchee-twitchee-twitchee! 

Puk-puk! 

Croak. 

Frogs growl like motorbike engines. Birds swoop and dart through the reeds. Fresh water slips and oozes through the mangrove bogs and into the salty sea.  

Created for kids by Vipoo Srivilasa, Swamp Monsters invites you to transform into a wetland creature. Choose your costume, then make your own Swamp Monster mask to complete your transformation. What kind of swamp monster will you be?  

Inspired by the living rhythms of the Werribee wetlands, Swamp Monsters invites you to creep into this in-between world. Here, you can transform into a creature of the saltmarsh – part bird, part platypus, part something stranger.  

Wyndham City Council is home to a world-class bird-watching site, the Werribee wetlands. Within the mudflats and lagoons, everything is connected. Human wastewater makes nutrients for bugs, bugs feed fish, and fish nurseries attract birds from as far away as snowy Siberia! 

Swamp Monsters is a joyful call to care for our local Werribee wetlands. 

Curated by Nicola Bryant. 

About Vipoo Srivilasa 

Vipoo Srivilasa is a Thai-born Australian artist, recognised as a leader in the field of ceramics. 

Over the past two decades, Vipoo has made works that engage with complex questions of queerness, migration and spiritual meaning, using an aesthetic and medium that is accessible, positive and beautiful. 

His works often explore the dark parts of experience including isolation, loneliness, nostalgia, as well as joy, beauty and hope in the midst of these struggles. Additionally, Vipoo has developed participatory projects that invite people to be part of his creative process, helping them express themselves through storytelling and clay.  

Vipoo has exhibited extensively around the world, including Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Saatchi Gallery, London; Ayala Museum, Philippines; Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan; Nanjing Arts Institute, China and the National Gallery of Thailand.  

Vipoo lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne, where his studio, ClayLAB, is situated within the Kulin Nation/Cheltenham. 

About Nicola Bryant 

Nicola Bryant is a creative producer, comics artist and editor based on Bunurong Country on the Bass Coast. As a curator, Nicola is interested in joy as a form of political resistance and how delight can sow feelings of belonging. Her curated projects are often about connecting people with places through play. 

Image credit: Vipoo Srivilasa. Swamp Monsters, 2026. Earthenware, ceramic pigment, gold luster and mixed media. Photo: Simon Strong