Nine Streams of the Boorna Maliji (Tree of Shadow)
From sunset each day this artwork employs digital projection to extend a shadow of a Jacaranda tree onto the western wall of the State Buildings, one that ‘replaces’ the original Sheoak tree struck and cut down by Mrs Helen Dance and the sailor in 1829 to mark the Foundation of the City of Perth. The projection folds images depicting historical (and imaginary) events on this site into a ‘theatre of shadows and storytelling’. Each day the artwork generates a unique visual sequence constructed from a curated database of hundreds of fragments arranged across nine streams of classification; pre-settlement, settlement, language, songlines, emblems, marriage, protest, ceremony and future. The artwork incorporates text and imagery significant to the Wadjuk and non-indigenous histories of the site, as a continually unfolding narrative of reconciliation and resilience, framed by the enduring image of the borna malliji (tree of shadow) in a constant state of historical flux and transformation.’