Ballina Shire Councillors Kiri Dicker, Michelle Bailey, Eva Ramsey have teamed up to organise a free event to encourage residents of Lennox Head to join a wider array of community and sporting groups, with hopes of promoting social cohesion and greater community connection.
Regret (of the Anthropocene) – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
The SWELL Sculpture Festival is held annually on Currumbin Beach and this year’s event went from September 13 to 22.
Now in its seventeenth year, the ten-day festival brings up to 50 large scale works by nationally and internationally renowned artists to a free public exhibition on the beaches of the Gold Coast.
This year there was a strong emphasis on sea life and environmental works, with several light-based works designed to be seen at night. A diverse audience of people of all ages and backgrounds, plus a wide variety of dogs, enjoyed the sculptures.
Audience voting last week was skewing heavily towards Louis Pratt’s extraordinary work ‘Regret (of the Anthropocene)’ with its focus on coal driving humanity towards extinction, although the judges had other ideas.
For those who couldn’t get there, here is a selection of photos to make you wish you had!
Photos David Lowe
Whispering to Venus – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Whispering to Venus – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Washed Out – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Low
Totem – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Tide – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
The Host – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Punters and The Host – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
The Holy Cow – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
The Concretefish – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Superegg – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Regret (of the Anthropocene) – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Regret (of the Anthropocene) – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Mermaid – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
M-Fortytwo 2017 – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Little Tree Frog – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
I’ve Been Everywhere Man – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
I’ve Been Everywhere Man – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Hand in the Sand – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Food for Thought – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
Bower – Swell Sculpture Festival. Photo David Lowe.
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11 COMMENTS
We get the publicity about Swell when it is over. Who knew it was on?
No one.
Well Len its been running for 17 years every September. Where have you been? BUT, agree, The Echo is good at reporting interesting events after they have happened!
Phil H: One can’t report an event before it happens, only afterward. One can mention or promote before, but not report. A report is about a past or ongoing event.
The sculptures are there for affect and not meaning.
What is the meaning from the sculpture?
The meaning transcends weeks, months, years and decades.
The Sydney Opera House, how long can you look at it and never get tired of it.
Decades, maybe hundreds of years, the same with the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
It was built in 1932 and it is as fresh as 2019. That is art.
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Earlier this year I rode my push bike from Lennox Head out to Uluru, via Broken Hill and Port Augusta, in a boomerang-shaped arc across three states. The ride wasn’t for charity, or a race – it was just something I always wanted to do.
We get the publicity about Swell when it is over. Who knew it was on?
No one.
AGREE
last year the echo informed us in advance but didn’t this year and i wrote the same thing to my friend – inform us before not after!
It’s an annual event & always at the same time same place every year, Currumbin beach
Qld
so there you go!
What time is it Janis?
Well Len its been running for 17 years every September. Where have you been? BUT, agree, The Echo is good at reporting interesting events after they have happened!
Phil H: One can’t report an event before it happens, only afterward. One can mention or promote before, but not report. A report is about a past or ongoing event.
The Echo does not know what it is doing, Phil.
The sculptures are there for affect and not meaning.
What is the meaning from the sculpture?
The meaning transcends weeks, months, years and decades.
The Sydney Opera House, how long can you look at it and never get tired of it.
Decades, maybe hundreds of years, the same with the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
It was built in 1932 and it is as fresh as 2019. That is art.
Cross dressing is ok, but don’t dare come in blackface,,,,,hypocrisy much?
Hi … Great stuff … So which sculpture did win and which was ‘REGRET” that got high eco praise it seems ? Chrs Jason