Concepts

Kumangka Concept

Team

Sam Gollan and Gerry McMahon

We are a team with different skill sets and rolls but united in our passion and overall vision.

Gerry’s art practice is based on the 15 years of skills and experience acquired from his previous occupation as a sheet metal tradesman; He has skills in taking ideas and developing them into 3D sculptural objects. Sam is a Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna Aboriginal artist, painter and storyteller and is inspired by family her culture and the environment. Together their collaboration is with Gerry creating the canvas in 3D form and Sam telling the stories of her Kaurna people which will be laser cut into these forms.

Art and sport have been traditionally disciplines that are often placed in different lanes. However both sport and art have a strong connection to community, health and wellbeing and we wanted to embrace both elements within the sculpture.

There are three main components to the artwork:

Component 1:   Is a stylised form of an Australian rules football. This AFL football is a 3D canvas for Sam to tell Kaurna stories on which Sam’s illustrations are to be laser cut in to. This representational football is particularly significant, as it is a sport with a lot of history on the Broadview Oval, but more importantly many people considered the AFL sport to be inspired by the aboriginal game called Marn Grook, a sport that aboriginal people have excelled at.  Inside this sculpture is LED RGB strip lighting. The lights will give the sculpture dynamic presents at night as well as casting beautiful patterns on the wall.

Component 2:   The AFL football shape form is positioned in the middle of three ring forms. The three rings symbolise in Kaurna paintings, as campsite or meeting place, “Pirltawardli” in Kaurna languish. This is appropriate for the space as community club house and oval is a place where people meet regularly. The inside cylinder form that supports the sculpture have ochre river stones set into terracotta tinted concrete. The next ring will have black and gray mottled river stones set in black concrete. The final ring will have once again ochre river stones set into terracotta tinted concrete. These muted coloured elements will complement the corten steel and are in keeping with the aboriginal design. Between each section of these rings there will be garden beds with low lying native shrubs.

Component 3:   Either side of the sculpture two stylize tree with birds perched on them. Sam has designed Kaurna stories on these birds too. The tree like forms are designed to represent goal posts. There will be a small LED light place at the top of the tree to illuminate it at night.