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https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/sep/26/sydney-opera-house-85000-oyster-shells-tell-of-sites-true-story-in-major-public-artwork>
"Some 85,000 oyster shells have been hand-polished, drilled, threaded and
mounted to create three large-scale public works now open at the Sydney Opera
House forecourts.
Quandamooka artist Megan Cope’s new installation, titled
Whispers, recognises
the history of the Bennelong Point site – namely the plundering of natural
resources caused by colonisation.
Long before excavations began for Jørn Utzon’s vision in the 1950s, the site –
known as Tubowgule – was a meeting point for the local Gadigal people of the
Eora nation.
The area was strewn with the debris of family feasts and ceremonies, creating
myriad ancestral middens over thousands of years.
With the arrival of the first fleet, convict women were put to work collecting
the oyster shells and bones from the middens, burning them down to create the
lime that formed the cement mortar that built Australia’s first Government
House, which overlooks Bennelong Point to this day.
More than 10 million people visit the Sydney Opera House each year, says Cope,
yet few know that the site was of profound cultural significance for tens of
thousands of years before white occupation.
Her installations are an acknowledgment of country embodied in sculptural form,
she says.
“We all know how iconic that building is and how it attracts all these people.
So I guess I really wanted to share the way we see country and remind visitors
that evidence of our existence as people was removed and repurposed for the
foundations of the colony.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
