Western Australian Sites

Leighton Beach Development Indigenous Mosaic Artworks

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Overview

Blackwell & Associates PTY LTD

• The indigenous artworks at Leighton comprise of seven separate mosaic artworks depicting dreamtime stories and the local history of the Aboriginal people. The mosaics were designed in consultation with indigenous Elders and form part of the site’s transition from a railway marshalling yard and container storage area to a vibrant beachside hub. These artworks record a small but important part of the local Aboriginal heritage for posterity and as such they provide added interest and value to the project. We also hope that they help provide a better understanding of Aboriginal culture in Perth. A separate brochure providing the full story or dreaming behind each artwork is also in the process of being published. A copy of this brochure will be given to all new residents in the adjoining developments.

• The indigenous artworks are part of a broader public art strategy for the Leighton Beach project that also includes 200m of ‘ephemeral’ street (graffiti) art panels created during a one day youth event as part of the 2006 Fremantle Festival. There are also three separate clusters of permanent sculptural markers done by Steve Tepper. The sculptural markers are vertical, abstract references to water which stand up to 8.0m in height. The material, colours and detailing on the markers also make reference to the site's former use for container storage, rail transport and its links to the port of Fremantle.

• The story of the “Seven Sisters” pervades throughout much of Australian Aboriginal mythology (and indeed a very similar story appears in many other cultures too). However unlike most other instances where the story revolves around the seven brightest stars in the Pleiades constellation, in Perth the “Seven Sisters” was the name given to the seven hills running parallel to the coast immediately behind the Leighton Beach site. The concept for the Aboriginal art works at Leighton was inspired by this local mythology. It also accorded with the design for the Central Plaza which incorporates seven metaphoric (artificially constructed) ‘dunes’ which are designed to provide informal seating and shelter from the wind. The Aboriginal art works are located in the gaps between these ‘dunes’ which otherwise provide a central access way through the plaza.

• There also happens to be seven separate Nyoongar families in the Perth region who claim custodianship to the land in this region. Consequently this was seen as a unique opportunity to create seven individual artworks, each relevant to the Leighton site and each representing an important story from these seven families.  From past experience it was considered that the most appropriate way to convey these stories, based on local Aboriginal traditions, was in a two dimensional form which meant using either the paving or the walls within these spaces.

• Andra Kins (specialist art coordinator) was engaged, based on her previous work with Aboriginal artists, to assist us in achieving this goal.

• Probably the most demanding component of this artwork project was the recording of the stories and the interpretation of these stories into physical form. This daunting task simply would not have been possible without the involvement of Sandra Hill, herself a well known Aboriginal artist and lecturer at Curtin University in Western Australia, who first of all spoke with Elders from of each family group, recording their stories, ‘translating’ them in such a fashion that was acceptable to the Elders for ‘public exhibition’ and then helping to find suitable artists to assist in portraying these dreamtime stories. This whole process required an immense amount of patience as the stories needed to be vetted and edited numerous times before the final versions were approved by all parties involved. Sandra herself took on several of the designs in the absence of any family associated representative/artist being able to design the work.

• Jenny Dawson, another well known Western Australian artist who specialises in ceramics and who often works with Sandra, had the task of painstakingly conveying the art work from the pictures produced by each of the family’s artists into the fired tiles and installing them within their respective places in the Plaza.

• Aside from the sheer magnitude of the task that Sandra undertook, there was an incredible amount of very sensitive information that had to be dealt with at each stage of the development that Sandra handled with impeccable aplomb. The Aboriginal Elders were also invited, at a number of critical stages, to come and participate in the creation of the artworks.

Special Factors

• Aside from the breadth of scope and relative complexity of this project, especially given the cultural sensitivity, timing issues and uncertainties that are often present when you are working with indigenous communities, the main achievement of this artwork project is the cultural representation of all seven families of the Aboriginal custodians of the Perth region all in one project.

• In this regard the project makes a significant cultural contribution to the region adding to social equity.

intro  /  overview  /  images    /   location