The imprint of tyre treads upon the earth echoes the stratified fossil prints of ancient plants and leaves compressed into stone and shale.  While the tyre tracks reveal the weight of travel and an impatience with speed, the leaf patterns stretch skeletally to trap the light and water.

The artwork is made up of a number of elements spatially separated and yet geometrically interlocked.  A  patterned perforation on the sides of each element renders them as transparent and hollow.  The imagery of these patterns explores the common threads of the treads, the plant veins and water marks.

As a starting point for sculptural forms, the tread patterns were individually sampled, scaled and reconfigured using metal.  The links between apparently disparate layers of water, leaf and tyre are reinforced by their repeated geometry and the rhythm of their patterns cut from sheet metal.

The sentry box represents the early role of Parramatta as a colonial outpost at the head of the harbour, set in a park-like landscape which seems surreal to the first Europeans who saw it in 1788, expecting a “wilderness”.

The landing place, wharf, military barracks and government store/granary were at one end of the power axis at the entry point to Parramatta, with Government House at the head of George Street commanding the opposite end.  Floggings of convicts and soldiers sometimes took place at the doorway of the Government Store.

The sentry outside the barracks watched over the river and George Street for Aboriginal guerillas and escaping convicts and stood at the first gateway through which immigrants flowed to inland Australia.”

The direct use of quotations brings the speech and characters alive within archaic language forms while the current shorthand of the text message and computer code dominate.  It is a kind of oral history that cuts through the SMS of language rhythms with timeless preoccupations and emotions.  Framed within the wake of countless boats that have moved upstream, the walls quietly remind.

The idea for the wall plays with the notion of “illuminated manuscript,” exploring these issues in the imagery and text of the light box. This takes the medieval relationship between image and text and reinvents its form within a contemporary “illuminated” panel for the wall section.  While the style of the panel is derived from the formal set out with initials and miniatures, the text and imagery of the panel explores contemporary notions, such as text as a digital bit or part of a binary code, layered with pictorial and symbolic language.  The local history is the source of text.

From a distance the ripple of wave motion disrupts the monotony of shoreline and the organic landmass responds rhythmically in sculptural form and material.  From here the combination of organic and made elements blur function and artwork.  The sense of equilibrium is jolted by the perception of the solid form of land rolling and shifting as liquid.

The conceptual framework and contrasting elements of natural and made materials define the palette for the park.  These materials contrast conceptually and aesthetically, for example, with the patina of metal referencing the industrial heritage as well as its clean slice through the heavier mass of concrete.  These material contrasts reinforce the notion of fractures, as interventions in site and as sculptural elements that shape movement and sightlines.  The concrete wall and paths explores all three themes, fractures, fingers, and connectors in its slice, in its fragmentation and the artwork texture of its surface.

Located in a young person’s play area, the cut outs referring to the cicadas and mayflies refer to their exotic annual life cycle and the nicknames for cicadas. With a diversity of cultures enjoying the park, this quintessential Sydney experience is made accessible to young children.

The sign announces a popular market enterprise below street level.

Part of a major development adjacent to Penrith CBD required a response to strong heritage elements of prior use.

This strategy proposed a reuse of existing materials on site as part of principles of sustainability