Graceville Wunderkammers

My bronze sculptures entitled the Graceville Wunderkammers have been installed as part of a Brisbane City Council Suburban Centre Improvement Project at Honour Avenue, Graceville.

I was commissioned by the Council Urban Planning Dept to collaborate with the local community to create two artworks which reflected the curatorial rationale of ‘Showtime’.  Emerging in the 16th century, the Wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities) included objects belonging to natural history, geology, social history, religious or historical relics, works of art and antiquities. It was regarded as a microcosm or a theatre of the world, and a theatre of the memory. These cabinets served as a status symbol, provided entertainment, were precursors to museums and receptacles of a people’s history both imagined and real. These Wunderkammers are filled with objects belonging to the social and natural history of the Graceville area and it’s people. It is meant to invoke memories, engage conversation and summon narratives of both past and present. There are stories hidden in each object.

Huge thanks to Chalkos Fine Art Foundry for their expertise and collaboration. Photo credits Carl Warner

 

Graceville Wunderkammer 1 - Deb Mostert 2016 Bronze
Graceville Wunderkammer 1 – Deb Mostert 2016 Bronze

Graceville Wunderkammer 1 - detail Deb Mostert 2016 Bronze

Graceville Wunderkammer detail Deb Mostert 2016 Bronze
Graceville Wunderkammer detail Deb Mostert 2016 Bronze
Graceville Wunderkammer 2 Deb Mostert 2016 Bronze
Graceville Wunderkammer 2 Deb Mostert 2016 Bronze