Sculptures At Bondi Beach Are Pushing For A Sea Change
Can art incite change? Brynn Davies looks at the artists sending a message to the public with their sculptures ahead of Sculptures By The Sea.
Sculptures By The Sea is celebrating its 20th anniversary as the largest free public sculpture exhibition in the world, and with 103 artists from 17 countries offering the bold, the beautiful and the bizarre on the stunning coastal path between Bondi and Coogee beaches, it’s easy to see why 500,000 are expected to attend. But art is not just a thing of beauty – it’s a powerful way of communicating a message about society, the environment, politics; a mirror in which we see ourselves and our society reflected in a different light. We spoke to some of this years’ featured artists about their works and the way they hope to shape the world.
Buried Rhino (aka shandu) - Gillie & Marc schattner
We’ve chosen to have Buried Rhino in a playful setting where people can interact with it while also showing that they’re currently sinking, and if people don’t act now they will be buried forever.
We all love to play in the sun and being buried in the sand is fun, so we created a larger-than-life sculpture in an interactive setting for all to enjoy. This artwork is also a poignant juxtaposition about this dire, heartbreaking situation.
Rhinos are critically endangered due to dangerously high levels of poaching. Tragically, poaching numbers have been on the rise with last year being one of the worst years in history. In fact, there are currently only three Northern White rhinos left in the world.
This is the world’s biggest rhino sculpture. It’s an incredible five metres high and spans four metres wide so obviously a lot of thought has gone into the design and transportation and installation.
We also asked all our Facebook fans to help us name him and he now has the name Shandu, which means ‘change’.
