RYE residents and visitors can now enjoy a new public artwork: Ngalamba: to stop and wait a while.
Produced by artists David Wood, of Bent Metal, Daniel van de Wiel, of It Stands Out and Shanai Kellett, of Maloga Art, the wall sculpture represents the story of Bunurong’s five seasons.
The commission came about after Rye Community Alliance reached out to the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, in consultation with Binturong elders.
Both schematic and organic, the sculpture celebrates the local Bunurong people’s connection to country.
Inspired by the life cycle of the leptospermum laevigatum – the coastal tea tree, an indigenous species of the sand belt region.
From seed and sapling, to its fully grown twisted, knotted and sinuous limbs and later the polished driftwood, amorphic and grey.
Having experienced first-hand how public art can discourage graffiti and start conversations, the community alliance wanted to further enrich Rye’s art precinct.
The project was co-financed by the state government’s Living Local suburban grants program.
The new piece was opened on Thursday 26 October.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 21 November 2023
