Melville Sculpture Walk, 2010
Sculpture by the Sea Bondi 2011
Archaeological Dig
The installation takes the form of a large buried box, with a glass top at ground level, revealing what is inside - a window into the earth, illustrating the linkage between river and land at Deepwater Point.
It plays with ideas of archaeology, possible pasts, and offers a window into the earth. Like an archaeological dig, it reveals layers of the planet not usually seen, covered over by the action of time and tide. It seems to extend beyond the frame of the window, and so plays with the viewer’s imagination, showing what might lie underneath the earth at this place. By walking over the glass, the viewer can become more intimately
involved in the installation.
It uses found objects - buttons, lace and other man-made items - to create organic forms, suggesting shells seaweed, tendrils or roots, with a texture that hints at riverine origins, organic growth from the earth, across the intertidal zone and into the river.
At night, the work will be lit from within, suggesting the interface between below and above is reversed, and the exploring the duality of dark and light, day and night.
We’re conditioned to seeing sculpture above the land: this work is designed to make you think about what is under your feet. It’s buried, so the casual observer may stumble across it. This element of surprise is aimed at encouraging people who might not visit an art gallery, but who use the park, to think about their relationship to the world, and to sculpture.
This work continues my exploration of what lies beneath the earth – of the same series
“Archaeological dig: Mitzy’s Dream” is installed in the grounds of Beaconsfield Primary School.
“Archaeological dig:Aluminium “ is part of the Kerry Stokes Collection