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Visitors to Sydney’s Rookwood Cemetery were able to experience art in an unusual setting when the third annual Sculpture Walk took place from 7 March to 8 May.
Rookwood Anglican and General Cemetery Trust successfully secured funding support from Arts NSW through the Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy to produce Hidden: A Rookwood Sculpture Walk.
Along with the support of Auburn City Council, the Trusts were thrilled to be able to then provide visitors to the exhibition with an array of new features and changes to previous years.
“As well as embracing new technologies with our iPhone app, visitors to previous exhibitions would have noticed that there were some other changes to the show this year,” said Derek Williams, General Manager of The Anglican Cemetery at Rookwood.
“We relocated the site of the exhibition to be among the graves, increased the number of artworks and artists involved, expanded the style of works included, created awards for the artists, and implemented an array of public program elements, all to engage with our audience on a deeper, and more personal, level.”
With a thought provoking subject, Hidden invited audiences to explore the iconic site while admiring the 36 evocative works that featured among the graves.
The works addressed themes appropriate to the site, such as grief, loss, memory, death, mourning, spirituality, religion and heritage as well as the culture around memorial, eulogy, burial and ceremony. This year’s exhibition also featured a new media installation in the All Souls Chapel.
“The Trusts were delighted by the positive response and enthusiasm from artists, with applications up by 50% from last year and more than doubling the previous year. This made the selection of works very competitive” said Mr Williams.
It has been estimated that over 1,500 visitors attended the sculpture walk, with around 200 attending the launch night festivities.
Hidden 2011 also attracted attention from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, with a group of members visiting the exhibition and undertaking a guided tour by curator, Cassandra Hard Lawrie back in mid-April.
The Hidden 2011 public program included a writer’s workshop, artist workshop, cemetery tours, a dusk ceremony and a high school arts program, all of which were well received by the Rookwood and broader community.
For the first time since the exhibition’s inception, a $5,000 Rookwood Necropolis Sculpture Award was on offer to exhibiting artists. Michael Needham received this award for his installation titled Hauntings of the Imaginary #2.
The judges were looking for a well-considered and original outdoor sculpture or installation that poignantly dealt with the themes of the Rookwood site and felt that Michael’s work fulfilled these criteria impeccably.
On top of the $5,000 award, Auburn City Council awarded Benedict Ernst (for his work Bouquet (x4)), a one-month residency and solo exhibition at the Peacock Gallery and Auburn Arts Studio at no cost.
