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Installation by Dr Emma Hicks

The Reflection Pool at The Concourse

Untitled, 2024 Cammeraygal Country, digital artwork

Glass decal installation of digital artwork by Dr Emma Hicks on the balustrades of The Reflection Pool at The Concourse

About the Artwork

This artwork Acknowledges and celebrates Cammeraygal Country and culture. I am grateful to have been held by this Country, having lived here for the past 20 years.

The design highlights the topography of Country, mapping the waterways before colonisation. Originally created for Willoughby Council's Reconciliation Action Plan the artwork has been reimagined by the artist for the reflection pool at The Concourse.

The design reflects a Sydney red gum (angophora costata) that is located in the heart of what is now called Chatswood. Blue gum nuts (eucalyptus saligna) are scattered across the design remembering the blue gum forests that once stretched across this section of Country.

The western side of Willoughby and Chatswood contained creeks lined by River Mangroves (aegiceras corniculatum) and sweet sarsaparilla (similax glyciphylla); and the sandstone ridges of Middle Harbour with eastern scribbly gum (eucalyptus racemosa) and lomandra (lomandra longifolia).

Oysters, Hairy Mussels, Sydney cockles and Mud Oysters bring awareness to what were once a staple food source; and their role in cleansing and filtering waterways.

A school of salmon swim upstream remembering women’s stories and the casuarina (allocasuarina littoralis) offer shade and shelter as the Brush Turkey digs, aerating and enriching the soil.

Native Fuchsia (epacris longiflora), Christmas bells (blandfordia grandiflora) and Graceful pea bush (pultenaea flexilis) bloom with the changing of seasons.

About the Artist

Dr Emma Hicks is a Sydney based artist, writer, academic and educator of Gamilaroi and European heritage.

Emma has a multidisciplinary practice covering film, sculpture, installation, drawing and writing. Emma works in a responsive way to site or concept with connection to place and personal storytelling as recurring themes in her practice.

Untitled is presented in partnership with the Gai-mariagal Festival 2024, a celebration of the oldest living culture on the planet.

Image: Emma Hicks, Untitled (detail), 2024, Cammeraygal Country, digital artwork