Materials: timber, copper/zinc insect mesh, galvanised steel brackets, plywood, chairs, fabric, grass, soil, rope
Old Lilyfield Road Bridge
Leichhardt Council Commission, Sydney 2017
This complex intervention was originally conceived for this decommissioned major road bridge into Sydney, now used as a footbridge. It is located within a residential area of Sydney designated as the site for a new major transport infrastructure that threatens residential security and community displacement.
The work was initially constructed on top of the bridge but within 48 hours vandals relocated the structures and threw them off the bridge and into the canal below. Following my initial shock I quickly realised the opportunity offered in documenting the floating structure’s journey’s as they moved with the tide. And what interested me was how the destructive human interaction with, the once static bridge located work, has now transforming the piece into a performative expression of its concept.
Original concept:
A collection of timber structures lie strewn across this once busy road bridge as if blown like tumbleweeds across an isolated wasteland. These structures are suggestive of habitable temporary spaces enclosed within their transparent walls evoking notions of vulnerability and insecurity. Within each structure the simple domestic scene with chair, table and light sprouted grass from various surfaces. This contemporary interpretation of commemorative monument explores displacement narratives, transience and nomadism.
Sally Kidall 