Kaldor Public Art Project’s most ambitious project to date and the first to be created by an Australian Aboriginal artist was today unveiled in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden in advance of its 17-day, free-to-the-public presentation from 17 September until 3 October 2016. Sydney-based Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones created barrangal dyara (skin and bones) for the 32nd Kaldor Public Art Project, inspired by the history of the 19th century Garden Palace building which originally stood in the Royal Botanic Garden between 1879 and 1882 before being burnt to the ground in 1882.

The ambitious contemporary art project barrangal dyara (skin and bones) is expected to attract enormous numbers of visitors and is a major component of the Royal Botanic Garden’s Bicentenary Celebrations. The work includes a vast sculptural installation of 15,000 white shields spanning the 20,000 square-metres of the site, marking the original foot-print of the Garden Palace building. At the heart of the installation, where the Garden Palace’s dome once crowned the city, a dynamic native meadow of kangaroo grass disrupts the garden’s formal European design. Eight Aboriginal language soundscapes developed with communities throughout the south-east of Australia are installed throughout the site.