Tree of Life
‘Just as Powerhouse Parramatta serves first and foremost as a meeting place — both harkening to the site’s past where the mountain and coastal people communed and also as a modern-day cultural hub for Sydneysiders of all backgrounds — Tree of Life embodies an artistic message of commonality and an ode to nature.’
Powerhouse Parramatta Commission: Sacred Tree Sculpture
Internationally acclaimed British Indian contemporary artist Bharti Kher has been commissioned by Powerhouse to create a large-scale public artwork for Powerhouse Parramatta.
Titled Tree of Life, the 7 m tall bronze sculpture represents Kher’s interpretation of the sacred tree, one of the most ancient images from Indian mythology, which in Hindu religious texts is described as a conscious being providing protection.
Conceived as a spirit work rather than a narrative one, the heads of ancestors are layered within the symbolism of the Tree of Life. Families are connected together to recollect histories and memories as they grow and adapt over time.
The building’s exoskeleton bridging the human scale to one that is larger-than-life through its biomimicry lattice structure supports aspirational spaces that unite the human and the natural worlds through architecture. The totem, in its way, similarly unites collective memory and histories of the human and natural worlds as a beacon of potentiality. In this way art and architecture provide a parallel yet united message.
