Public artwork celebrating First Nations women commissioned for Sydney’s Circular Quay

Lendlease has commissioned a significant permanent public artwork by Dharawal and Yuin artist Alison Page, developed in consultation with Sydney coastal Aboriginal women. The work will be unveiled outside of the Waldorf Astoria Sydney hotel at Circular Quay, the first of its kind in Australia.

Steve McGillivray, Project Director, Development Lendlease noted “Exceptional public spaces can act as canvases for cultural expression, enriching the connections between people and place. This new major public artwork by Alison Page will become a prominent and powerful feature along the Circular Quay waterfront, drawing people in and stimulating conversation with its strength of story.”

The work will be produced by UAP and delivered by Lendlease as part of the luxury residential One Circular Quay and Waldorf Astoria Sydney hotel development.

Titled Badjgama Ngunda Whuliwulawala (Black Women Rising) the ambitious new 5.5metre high cast bronze sculpture sees an Aboriginal woman rising powerfully from a body of water. Part woman and part whale, the figure represents the deep connection Aboriginal people have to Country and serves as an invitation for all women and all people to connect with her strength and resilience.

Page shared “Badjgama Ngunda Whuliwulawala (Black Women Rising) emerges from the water below the city, a place of spiritual potency for Dharawal women. She is the mixing of the salt water and the fresh water, her energy and essence lives within the Aboriginal women of Sydney today. She is every black woman, every mother, daughter, sister, aunty. She is Country.”

Led by Page, an award-winning First Nations creative at the forefront of the contemporary Australian Aboriginal art and design, the project has been developed in conversation with Curatorial and Cultural Advisor Rhoda Roberts AO as well as locally connected representatives and Traditional Owners of the Coastal Sydney region who have come together to form the new Sydney Coastal Aboriginal Women's Group.

The Group is made up of over 20 women including Rhonda Clark, Rene Campbell, Jacqui Jarrett (Timbery), Denise Simon, Lavina Phillips, Rowena Welsh-Jarrett, Kowana Welsh, Dakota Dixon, Sara Campbell, Shaneah Jones, Keisha Davison, Angeline Penrith and Bronwyn Penrith.

The naming of the work was in consultation with the Gujaga Foundation. Members of the Sydney Coastal Aboriginal Women’s Group have been invited to be a part of the process, from the work's creation through to its ultimate unveiling, as it becomes a site of cultural pride immortalising First Nations women.

Image. Artist Impression of Badjgama Ngunda Whuliwulawala (Black Women Rising)