Richard Mordaunt, Byron Bay
What a surprise. A huge new public art creation has landed centre stage in our community and it’s produced a torrent of opinion, as it should.
Many people are asking, what on earth were they thinking about? This is not a giant dolphin or a 15m high surfboard or a big phallic dick, but it is big.
Like a shining stainless-steel meteorite it sits in the middle of Byron’s most expensive new roundabout.
I like it and applaud it. It’s a brilliant semi-abstract creation, based on the idea of a landmark pillar of light representing the spirit of Byron and its iconic lighthouse.
What is most amazing is that it was commissioned and constructed so quickly and with so little controversy.
Because it’s 12 metres high in the middle of a fast-trafficked roundabout, it’s impossible to take it in at first sight, so you have to take a closer look.
What I found was that far from being a solid blocky representation of a lighthouse, because it’s made of stainless steel with hundreds of birds flying around it, light pours through it and bounces off it in all directions. This is a very surprising Australian sculpture that will shine in the Australian light and certainly has nothing to do with Dubai or the Gold Coast.
It’s close to being a Byron nature sculpture, shimmering in our white light. It’s bold and it’s brave and, when lit at night it will become a beacon welcoming people to Byron. It should have been a bigger roundabout so that we can all see it clearly.
Congratulations and thanks to artist Corey Thomas and the many people who must have helped in the design, development and construction of a remarkable spiritual creation.
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