''Edge of the Trees'' is a collaborative installation artwork created by artists

Janet Laurence Janet Laurence (born 4 March 1947) is an Australian artist, based in Sydney, who works in photography, sculpture, video and installation art. Her work is an expression of her concern about environment and ethics, her "ecological quest" as she ...

and

Fiona Foley Fiona Foley (born 1964) is a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist from K'gari (Fraser Island), Queensland. Foley is known for her activity as an academic, cultural and community leader and for co-founding the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-o ...

. The artwork is a site-specific piece located at the forecourt of the

Museum of Sydney The Museum of Sydney is a historical collection and exhibit, built on the ruins of the house of New South Wales' first Governor, Arthur Phillip, on the present-day corner of Phillip and Bridge Street, Sydney. Description The original house, ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

since its opening in 1995. The artwork is constructed with 29 vertical pillars made from various organic materials such as wood, steel, and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

collaborating with sound elements. This public art installation has won several awards as it evokes the cultural and physical history of the site.

Philosophy and meaning

The intention of the artwork is to interpret and make reference to the past: the indigenous, the displaced, and the land. The name of the sculpture originated in an essay by historian Rhys Maengwyn Jones: "…the "discoverers" struggling through the surf were met on the beaches by other people looking at them from the edge of the trees.''Ordering the Landscape'' in Thus the same landscape perceived by the newcomers as alien, hostile, or having no coherent form, was to the indigenous people their home, a familiar place, the inspiration of dreams." ''Edge of the Trees'' symbolises the interaction between

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

and non-Aboriginal people at this site, which was a significant site of

first contact First contact may refer to: *First contact (astronomy), the moment in astronomical transit when the apparent positions of the two bodies first touch *First contact (anthropology), the first meeting of two cultures previously unaware of one another ...

. The artists express such idea as they delivered multiple layers of memories of the site through the language of materials, naming, and mapping and the memories include: the botanical memory, the

Eora The Eora (''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as the Sy ...

memory, and the Colonial memory. The sculpture is a site-specific art that made direct reference to the

. The concept of the museum is the Historic Houses Trust and the senior curator, Peter Emmett. Laurence was one of the artists who was invited to submit a proposal for the limited competition for the museum. The competition brief invited the artists to "engage with the architecture in dialogue, counterpoint, even tension". Laurence invited Aboriginal artist

to collaborate with her to directly respond to the culturally charged symbolism of the site. Foley was able to bring in the authentic cultural input and authority to incorporate materials that a non-Aboriginal artist could not have.

Material naming and mapping

''Edge of the Trees'' is a "forest" of 29 massive pillars made of wood, steel and sandstone clustering at the museum forecourt near the entrance. Wooden pillars points to the grove of trees that once occupied the site. The pillars were

Ironbark Ironbark is a common name of a number of species in three taxonomic groups within the genus ''Eucalyptus'' that have dark, deeply furrowed bark. Instead of being shed annually as in many of the other species of ''Eucalyptus'', the dead bark accu ...

and

Tallow wood Tallow wood is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Eucalyptus microcorys'', native to eastern Australia *''Ximenia americana ''Ximenia americana'', commonly known as tallow wood, hog plum, yellow plum, sea lemon, or pi'ut (Cha ...

trees which were collected from around Sydney. The sandstone material is to suggest Sydney's historical building material and the substance on which Sydney is built. Steel is used to link to the steel and glass features of the museum architecture, extending the building and reflecting upon the industrial developments since the colonial period.

Organic materials Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have c ...

such as human hair, shell, bone, feathers, ash and honey, are embedded in windows within the wood pillars, symbolising and memorialising the lives that lived around the site. Natural and cultural histories are evoked by the names of botanical species carved or burnt into wooden columns in both Latin and Aboriginal languages, along with the signatures of

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

ers. Words are engraved onto the pillars such as the species from

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

readings of the Governor's garden and the names of the first fleeters who arrived in Sydney in 1788. Place names are also engraved on the sandstone pillars in Latin and Aboriginal languages. The 29 vertical poles correspond to the 29 Aboriginal

clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

from around Sydney. As the work is designed not to be viewed from a distance but experienced up close as part of the sensual and spatial encounter, the audience are invited to touch and run their fingers along the engraved names and to feel the textures of the different materials. Walking between the pillars you hear a soundscape of

Koori Koori (also spelt koorie, goori or goorie) is a demonym for Aboriginal Australians from a region that approximately corresponds to southern New South Wales and Victoria. The word derives from the Indigenous language Awabakal. For some people an ...

voices reciting the names of places in the Sydney region that have today been swallowed up by the metropolis. This is also a way to celebrate the moment in time.

Awards

* 1995:

Lloyd Rees Lloyd Frederic Rees (17 March 18952 December 1988) was an Australian landscape painter who twice won the Wynne Prize for his landscape paintings. Most of Rees's works are preoccupied with depicting the effects of light and emphasis is placed ...

Award for Outstanding Urban Design,

Australian Institute of Architects (United we advance architecture) , predecessor = , merged = , successor = , formation = , extinction = , status = Professional body; members association , headquarters = L1/41 Exhibition St, Melbourne , leader_title = CEO , leader_ ...

Gallery

File:Engravings.jpg, Close up view of one of the timber pillars with Latin and Aboriginal language engravings File:Entry point 1.jpg, Side view of the installation work from street level File:First fleeters.jpg, Engraving of the names of the First Fleeters that arrived in Sydney in 1788 on metal sheets joint onto timber pillars File:Organic materials.jpg, Close up of organic materials such as hair, shell, bone, and feathers embedded in windows of timber pillar File:Side view of installation work.jpg, Side view of installation work with museum entrance at the background File:View of sky from within.jpg, View of the sky from between the pillars

References

External links