06 July, 2017

Artwork celebrates Aboriginal traditional meeting place

The City of Adelaide, artist Jacob Logos, and members of the Kaurna community and wider Aboriginal community have come together to create a significant public artwork on the southern footpath of Reconciliation Plaza, located in the heart of the city, Tarntanyangga/Victoria Square.

This cultural marker aims to be both an educational tool for the general public as well as a highly symbolic public artwork that marks a historical traditional meeting place for the original custodians of this site, the Kaurna people.

The artwork features a solar LED light representation of the Kaurna shield at the centre, surrounded by engravings. The granite used is entirely South Australian and was selected for both its colour and connection to this land. Through the help of Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi, a committee of Kaurna people, teachers, linguists and language enthusiasts, a list of Kaurna words and their English translations were compiled and these were then interpreted through illustrations by Aboriginal students from Challa Gardens Primary School and Gilles Street Primary School.

City of Adelaide Lord Mayor Martin Haese unveiled the artwork today.

“As we continue to celebrate NAIDOC Week, I would like to congratulate the schoolchildren who have been involved in creating this wonderful artwork and selecting the words to be illustrated, which will be seen by thousands of people from all over Adelaide every day,” said Lord Mayor Haese.

“This adds to the achievements from the City of Adelaide’s Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan 2015-2018, which consolidates Council's long-standing commitment to reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

“Through the Reconciliation Committee and increased community engagement, I believe we are making real progress on the reconciliation journey.”

Artist Jacob Logos said that it had been a privilege to have worked on this project.

“This really is a community art piece.

“Lots of people generously connected and contributed to the process to make sure we got to this stage; the artists who created the images, the City of Adelaide team, the Reconciliation Committee, consulting Elders, Kaurna community, Taylor Power-Smith and the Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi, Gilles Street Primary, Challa Gardens Primary, Tilletts memorials, plus my own team.

“I was sort of the middle man, the facilitator. That, and I got to do a lot of sand blasting.”

The Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan 2015-2018 can be found here.

Image: the cultural marker at night

Paula Stevens