A mosaic wonder

I was wandering through Elyard Reserve at Narellan with my granddaughter and found a piece of public art hidden in plain sight.

The artwork is a bench covered in mosaic tiles and is all but forgotten in the corner of the park amongst the slides, swings and climbing equipment for the youngsters.

The mosaic was commissioned in 2009 as The Community Harmony Mosaic Project, funded by the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

The artwork was a community collaboration between

1. Leppington Public School
2. Hope Christian School
3. Camden High School
4. Camden Youth Café.
5. And ceramic artists Selma Fida and Natalie Valiente.

According to a bio on Facebook, Selma Fida is a local artist who presented an immersive exhibition of realistic hand-made porcelain flowers at the Casula Powerhouse in 2019. The show was the result of the 2018 Casula Powerhouse Scholarship Prize. Selma states that the exhibition explored how flowers speak a universal language of care and empathy through celebrations, anniversaries, births, wars, sickness and death. (Facebook)

Natalie Valiente is a self-employed ceramic artist from Eagle Vale, NSW, who has exhibited at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.

Natalie’s recent collaboration with Susan Grant and Dharawal elders called Life Blood is permanently displayed at the National Herbarium of NSW forecourt at the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan. According to a report in the National Indigenous Times, the Life Blood artwork has the eucalyptus tree at its heart. A magnified gum leaf became the design which has been sandblasted onto the concrete forecourt. The artists drew their inspiration from being on Country and the grey gums, ironbark and forest red gums that covered the landscape. (NIT, 22 April 2022)

Updated on 2 May 2023. Originally posted on 20 March 2023.