From a quiet studio tucked into the hinterland of the Mornington Peninsula to one of America’s most visited zoos, sculptor Matt Hill has taken his work — and a little piece of this region’s creative soul — to the world.

The newly opened Leopard Forest at Nashville Zoo in Tennessee now features 15 of Hill’s monumental corten-steel animal sculptures, forming a centrepiece of the Zoo’s African savanna expansion. Life-sized giraffes, impala, klipspringers, and a De Brazza’s monkey sit amongst a sculptural landscape, crowned by a striking steel leopard resting in the canopy above. It’s bold, ambitious work — yet rooted in something quiet and considered.

Each piece was designed and fabricated in Hill’s Melbourne studio, just an hour from the Peninsula. The commission came via a collaboration with U.S.-based interpretive design firm Gecko Group, whose creative director, Jill Metzger, discovered Hill’s work online and saw in it something more than sculpture — a narrative voice.

The project was vast in scope and scale, involving digital prototyping, international freight, and precision installation across hemispheres. But at its core, it remained what Matt Hill does best: honest, place-aware work that balances geometry and grace, wilderness and stillness.

“Seeing the forms we created emerge from the landscape in Nashville — blending into the habitat, holding their own alongside the live animals — was deeply rewarding,” said Hill. “They’re not just objects. They’re part of a bigger story.”

That story — of conservation, coexistence, and creative possibility — echoes loudly through the Leopard Forest. It also marks a significant moment for Matt Hill Projects as the studio’s first major commission in the United States.

For those of us who know his work — sculptures that feel both ancient and of-the-moment — it’s no surprise. Matt Hill continues to shape steel into something elemental. Something alive.