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Chris Booth: "Wurrungwuri", 2008 - 2011. Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia
The giant waveform, echoing the geomorphology of the landscape, is constructed from 300+ tonnes of sandstone incorporating gaps of many sizes to serve as wildlife habitat. Blocks of wood and adobe within the wave offer living quarters for Solitary Bees. The wave troughs are planted with local flora which will support insects and birds.
The site-specific creation summons the geological and cultural energy of this cove where the local Cadi people and European convict colony first encountered one another. A giant half-ellipse woven from 22,000 quartz stones recalls a shield of the Cadigal, thought to have been traded in 1788 with the new 'boat people'. Ochre coloured rocks from the Nepean River replicate the design on the shield, now in the Australian Museum. The shield is one of the few surviving Aboriginal artifacts from early settlement (many were lost in the Garden Palace Fire). Its remembrance here was created in close consultation with Allen Madden, Cadigal elder. In addition he named the land art work. The hollow quartz stone form is also created as habitat for endangered micro-bats.
