project: 32 Smith

DESCRIPTION

The commercial tower at 32 Smith St is situated at the northern gateway to Parramatta connecting the river to the city. For thousands of years the Darug people lived along the upper reaches of the river and FK architects featured a massive carved mural in the lobby depicting the Darug people’s close connection to the river.

Darug woman and artist, Leanne Tobin, made the initial sketches of people fishing, cooking and canoeing. Di Emme was commissioned to transform the sketches into a jack-hammered bas-relief where the surface of the wall is removed to reveal the layers beneath.

Adjusting tonal sketches done on an iPad to suit the bas-relief technique was a substantial process. Di Emme created samples in the studio to establish the level of detail that could be achieved and the best render thickness. Di Emme worked with a skilled renderer applying a hard base render tinted black, topped with a softer grey tinted render. The artwork was projected onsite on the wall and Di Emme’s artist employed a jack hammer and other tools to carve the render to different depths. Colour washes added further tonal variants.

The mural is a striking reminder of the Indigenous connection to place.

PROJECT SUMMARY

Di Emme worked with Darug artist, Leanne Tobin, to create a jack hammered bas relief mural in the ground floor lobby of 32 Smith St, translating the artist’s tonal sketches of people fishing, cooking and canoeing into subtractive wall art.

CLIENT

GPT

Services

• Design development,

• Prototyping

• Jack hammer bas relief

• Project management

LOCATION

32 Smith St Parramatta

DATE

2021