Once Removed

This piece for Sculpture by the Sea is located on rocks overlooking the sea. The piece is made up of a series of men’s, women’s and children’s feet cast in crystal glass.   The feet recall bodies from the past that are connected to the sea or toward us the viewers. Given that these glass feet signify a group of people, at various distances and in distinct postures, they seem like ghost observers that see as they are being seen. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The scene before us has a strange group dynamic. We feel the figures collectively in a backdrop of dreamscape. The glass feet are a spectral reminder of antiquity. As they interact they also convey a candid and unambiguous body language of immersion into each other’s beings.  The cliff sites of Bondi and Tamarama on this walk are places to stand on a ledge and contemplate the boundary between sea and land, man and earth, and our lives and their death. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This simple act of becoming aware of these boundaries and our place among them is something we all do as we confront the edge of a continent on the cliff’s edge. The potential narrative created by adult feet standing firm before the innocent feet of the child portrays a fundamental passion of defending the young. It suggests our human condition today and how frail our existence is. The feet are the last wisp of contact with the earth, the last visible grounded point for the spirit, suggesting that their bodies have dissipated into sea air. The gravity and weight of these souls is most apparent at the instant when earth meets the flagship of the body––their feet.

Once Removed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The piece is made up of a series of men’s, women’s and children’s feet cast in crystal glass.   The sense of the bodies that these feet recall, are those of the past. Raw and innocent, bathed in the salt air, on the rocks looking out to the sea, or toward the path at us, the viewers.  In one sense, given that these glass feet signify a group of people, at various distances, with seemingly distinct postures, they hold an aspect of the ghost observer, an onlooker that also sees us, the viewers.

 

Our viewer interaction with these castings is a strange “group dynamic”, set into the backdrop of the dreamscape. These glass feet are a ghostly reminder of the presence of people past. The feet portray a unambiguous body language, given their position and proximity to one another and to the surrounding conditions of the site. Bondi and Tamarama on this walk are places to stand at the edge and contemplate the boundary between the sea and land, man and earth our life and its death. 

This simple act of becoming aware of these boundaries and our place among them is something that all of us do, particularly as we confront the edge of the continent on the cliff’s edge. The scene typifies the events of a bygone everyday life in an imaginary moment. The potential narrative created by the adult feet standing firm before the innocent feet of the child, portrays a fundamental responsiveness of defending the young. …… This reminder of the past is a potent catalyst, reflecting upon our human condition today, raising an awareness in us all of how frail our existence may be. The feet seem to resonate with a lit energy, that of the last wisp of contact with the earth, the last visible grounded point for the spirit in the ghost.  It is as if these bodies have dissipated in sea air. The gravity and weight of these souls is most apparent at the moment and the grounding point in which the earth meets the body, at their feet.