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Long Neck Turtle

Sculpture by the Sea


Steel and Copper


Weight approx: 350kg


Size: 3.5x3.2x1.6m

This Long-neck turtle carapace is the scale of a small shelter. With the minor modification of a hole, it becomes an architectonic device capable of generating ontological insecurity. The central hole allows for a visitors head to protrude, exposing it to the universe at large. The hole also acts to vent the hearth if a fire is lit. As a child I heard of ghastly colonial horseback beheading’s, the victims were indigenous children buried up to their necks in sand. I could not reconcile this brutality with the cosmos of life’s possibilities orbiting my school age mind. Realised at the scale of a large car, I imagine the turtle carapace becoming a spiritual destiny chariot to be piloted by satirical neo- pagan youth theatrically departing a compromised planet. Long-neck is capable of providing dignified refuge to the needy and a practical picnic destination. A nod to the moral responsibilities of public sculpture, and the glorious youth whom spit upon rules.