Plans to install a giant public art display, with the words “You Are Here” built in sandstone sculpture, at the North Mona Vale Headland has been suspended following significant community backlash.
Northern Beaches Council also did not push through with the Meet the Artist event scheduled for the 24th of February 2023 after listening to the feedback from the locals.
The Council was planning to spend $177,000 for the sculpture that did not receive public support. Instead, locals described the artwork as vandalism and a waste of public space and money.
“How to ruin a beautiful place. What does it add to the beauty of the place? The landscape is enough. This is all about ego and maybe tourism,” Elisabeth Lucy Moody said in the Mona Vale Facebook group.
“If it was covered areas with BBQ facilities underneath, perhaps that could be explained, but $44 thousand for just the sandstone is a joke and the artwork is not art,” Tracy Dellit said.
“Please stop the desecration of our green spaces by forcing these abominations upon us. The best way to pay homage to the traditional lands is leave it in its natural state, anything else is pure ego and a money grab for artists,” Garry Campbell said.
Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro were commissioned for the sculpture as part of the Coast Walk Public Art project. They said that their ideas were inspired by things they saw in Mona Vale, the sandstone headlands that formed during the Triassic age and heaps of hand-painted signs of well-wishes to family or friends that are usually placed along Barrenjoey Road.
“We live in an age of ultimate distraction – You are Here locates people within the park,” the artists said. “The coast is traditionally a place for contemplation and recharging one’s energy. You are Here is an affirming phrase. The words remind us of the here and now, celebrating our existence in a beautiful setting.”
In November 2022, an art committee composed of councillors, council staff members, and public art experts, voted to proceed with the project. However, in February 2023, Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Reagan said he has asked the CEO to formally stop the process.
“We need to take onboard the feedback from the public and find a better way to engage,” the mayor said.
“Talking to a number of people over the weekend, the one thing that stopped me in my tracks was a particular resident explaining the relationship this proposal had with her and a close relative who had fallen from the headland and died.
“The lady was visibly upset and gave some compelling reasons over and above the aesthetics of the project. I appreciated her time and sentiments as I do for all those that have written to us.”
Published 28 February 2023