Over the bridge from the MCG, footballers leap from the ground, sinewy arms outstretched towards the Sherrin. Around them, hopeful hands and bodies are ready to spoil the mark. Meanwhile, the crowd holds its breath in tense anticipation.

In Still Lives: Melbourne, artists Luke George (Melbourne) and Daniel Kok (Singapore) work with five Australian Rules players to capture a moment in time bound by rope. In the recreation of a spectacular mark from football history, the players are transformed into living sculptures.

As spectators gather in the Great Hall of the NGV to witness the process of creating this suspended tableau, the connection between art and sport, the players and the game they love, and the powerful influence of football becomes an object of interrogation. Urgent issues, such as sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia within sporting culture are revealed through the knotty negotiation between bodies.