The Best Public Art of 2023, according to Curators

Published by Artsy on 12 December, 2023. Words written by Natasha Smith. Photographer for images in article: Daniel Boud.

See the full article here.

Megan Cope’s public art installation, entitled Whispers, was unveiled in September of this year at the Sydney Opera House, commissioned as part of the building’s 50th Birthday Festival. More than 85,000 oyster shells were collated through a year-long process of community workshops hosted on-site at the Opera House Forecourt, in community centers in Sydney and at the artist’s studio in Brisbane, breathing life into this incredibly site-specific, poignant, and lovingly crafted work.

The installation consists of three large-scale elements including 200 timber poles encrusted with oysters at the Northern Boardwalk, a 14-meter-long wall of oyster shells along the western side of the Opera House, and a large midden mound sited in front of Bennelong Restaurant. I nominated this work for its striking gravitas, its ability to stand its ground against the backdrop of the great Opera House architecture, its acknowledgment of First Nations history on this site, its ability to connect community and its potential to educate visitors about our country and how we engage with it.

In Cope’s own words: “All the works are informed by, and trace, six years of research into the history of and cultural relationship to Kinyingarra (oyster shells), from the vast reef constructions made by our Indigenous ancestors to the early lime-burning industries to the potential extinction of oyster reefs and impact of climate change. In the process they ask questions about how art and culture can heal Saltwater Country as well as our current relationship with the environment.”

—Natasha Smith