December 2024. Final touches are underway for unveiling of Asterisk, a new land art commission that looks to the stars. Created as part of a major NSW Government Westconnex transport infrastructure project, the work stands at the threshold of new parklands on the traditional lands of the Gadigal and Kameygal peoples. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek asteriskos – "little star" – and invokes ancient celestial knowledge systems and ancestral journeys guided by the stars across the land and sea. Its circular stone formations draw on diverse cultural traditions and the enduring connection between Earth and Sky. Each stone carries the deep time stories of the world's oldest continent: rock from the far West and East corners of Australia intersect a composite stone formed by the artistfrom rock recovered during tunnelling far below the site for new super-highways. On this reshaped ground, Asterisk charts a new direction in the decolonisation of space, being orientated towards Ginan – the brightest small star in the Southern Cross, recently restored on international star maps under its ancient Aboriginal star-name. A geometry of shadows echo star-maps and trace the passing of time within an open circle of setttler-heritage stone. Dating to the Triassic period and hand-hewn from local quarries for Sydney's nineteenth-century roads, these rocks now frame a celestial compass, binding past, present, and future in light and stone.

Asterisk 2020-2024
Pilbara Marble, Chillagoe Marble, Sydney Tunnel-Stone, Heritage Sandstone
11m Dia.
Public Art Project Sydney NSW