The sun shone through as Sydney's famed Sculpture by the Sea celebrated the launch of an anniversary exhibition.
These days, it is billed as the world's biggest outdoor free sculpture show - but its beginnings 30 years ago were very different.
In 1997, the event was run entirely by volunteers working from founder David Handley's lounge room.
Its humble origins were front of mind on Friday, as Mr Handley reminisced on how far the exhibition had come.
"I had $100 in the bank. We hustled together $11,500 and a $400 marketing budget, 25,000 people showed up," Mr Handley said, surrounded by some of the 100 artworks on show along the clifftops of the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk.
"The rest is history."
The annual event is expected to attract an audience of about 450,000 people in Sydney, and in March its Perth iteration will be held on Cottesloe Beach.
Still, some things haven't changed, as Sculpture by the Sea contends with funding woes and rising production costs.
In late 2025, the organisation made a last-minute call for $200,000 to ensure its most recent event could go ahead, raising $138,000 from public donations in 24 hours while bringing on sponsors.
Mr Handley acknowledged artists underwrite roughly a quarter of the exhibition's cost themselves.
"Every year, it's a big challenge to put on the exhibition. Last year was just that much worse, and the people of Sydney responded," Mr Handley said.
"It'd be wonderful if there was more support for the artists."
Mr Handley told AAP no changes had been made to the exhibition's safety protocols for sculpture installation, despite a former worker claiming he raised concerns with management after he was injured in January 2024.
Lead installer Yuri Humeniuk, who had to undergo facial surgery after being injured at the organisation's storage depot, was subsequently sacked and took his case to the Fair Work Commission.
SafeWork NSW looked into the incident and issued two improvement notices.
Exhibitors for the 30th anniversary exhibition include Kaaku-Kaakulinyа: Eternal Sentinels by Barkindji and Malyangapa artist David Doyle.
Doyle, who is based in Broken Hill, received $20,000 as a part of a new program encouraging Indigenous artists to participate in the event.
NSW artist Harrie Fasher walked away with the top prize, with her artwork Unveiling the Edges of the Sky receiving the $70,000 Aqualand Sculpture Award.
"I’d like to dedicate this prize to the women of this world - to the artists, the women who work tirelessly to bring this show to life and women who continue to keep the world turning," Ms Fasher said.
The exhibition also features a piece created in response to last year's Bondi massacre by artist Stephanie Quirk: a message of love that will appear in the skies above Bondi every Saturday for the next three weeks.
Sculpture by the Sea runs from Friday until November 2.
