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Presented by Cinzia Ruffilli – project manager Peter Schipperheyn – concept design and sculptor In consultation with the Wurundjeri people Latest developments - January 2006 in preliminary discussions with a Property Developer to commission sculpture for a significant site within the CBD of Melbourne Major Project To create a monumental sculpture, 6.0 mt high in bronze of "William Barak" - Naranjetti. To be placed in a prominent position within the C.B.D of Melbourne.
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Concept artwork for "Barak Place"
sculptors thoughts regarding the significance of this work
All people in this "great brown land" regardless of cultural, ethnic or racial background draw increasingly on the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage to define what it means to be an Australian. This ancient cultural heritage, its myths and spirituality is slowly but surely entering and transforming our national psyche. When we as a nation seek to "image" ourselves to the outside world, it is to the Indigenous Culture that we go, the boomerang, dot paintings, the didgeridoo etc. It is this extraordinary legacy of the Indigenous Peoples who where here long before the coming of Europeans, that is the bedrock from which the uniqueness of the Australian experience draws on. Whether you are born in this land, or have migrated to these shores one thing is for sure, you will be affected and shaped by the culture of the indigenous peoples. With this sculpture I wish to pay homage and to indeed celebrate this cultural legacy and the peoples who created it. A colossal sculpture of this nature then speaks clearly to the Australian community at large about what it is to be an Australian.
Head Study in clay of William Barak - a series of portrait studies and small scale works to be created, preparation for the monumental version
Email schip@bigpond.com