A central feature of the Newcastle Art Gallery’s new space is Kinyingarra Guwinyanba by Quandamooka artist Megan Cope. The installation features 44 timber poles, each about two metres long, adorned with empty rock oyster shells. Part of Cope’s ongoing oyster-shell-based sculptures, it explores the impact of early colonial lime-burning on Aboriginal middens and oyster reefs in Quandamooka Sea Country. Empty shells are attached to marine-resistant wooden poles planted in intertidal zones to help propagate new oyster reefs, creating living sculptures and ancestral technology. Partridge designed the rigging and support systems for the suspended poles in the atrium, ensuring stability while maintaining the visual impact of the installation.
