A huge public art piece exploring the theme of ’emotional balance’ has been unveiled underneath the South Brisbane end of Merivale Bridge, as part of Queensland Rail’s longstanding Pillars Project, which transforms infrastructure into an outdoor art gallery.
Queensland Rail Security and Emergency Preparedness senior manager Drew Brock said the piece was delivered by Brisbane-born artist Bronte Naylor, despite challenging wet weather conditions throughout the project.
“It’s an honour to have this piece in this spectacular outdoor art gallery join other paintings by leading Australian street artists including Gimiks Born, Guido Van Helten, Matt Adnate and Fintan Magee, which are brightening up the pillars at the South Brisbane end of our important Merivale rail bridge,” he said.
“Bronte Naylor’s artwork had to be put on hold last year due to the intense wet season across South East Queensland, so it was fantastic to see the Newcastle local back home in Brisbane, finishing it off for the public to enjoy.
“The series of artworks under the Merivale Bridge are 10 metres tall and can be viewed by residents and visitors from the Riverside Drive pathway through to Hope Street.”
Brock said the new artwork, which shows images and shadows of a person losing balance, was painted with the help of an elevated work platform over 14 days.
“The Pillars Project is part of Queensland Rail’s Positive pARTnerships program which is all about connecting with local artists to produce high quality public art projects which beautify our stations and build community pride and ownership,” he said.
“It has so far delivered over 200 projects that cover approximately 27,000 square metres across the Queensland Rail network, including on station buildings, subways, sound barriers and other infrastructure.
“Queensland Rail has recently unveiled new and stunning murals at Deagon and Auchenflower stations, which add to the brilliant examples of public artwork installed this year through our Positive pARTnerships program.”
Naylor said it had been a quiet goal of hers for some time to be invited to be part of the renowned project.
“I started painting public art in 2015 when I was at university studying Creative Industries in Cairns and I would come back home to the Brisbane area and see the pillar collection being furthered. It was an extremely distant reality for me at that time to be a part of a painting project like this,” she said.
“My piece shares a complex message about healing and achieving balance through the support of others when at a ‘tipping point.’ I wanted the work to create a sense of urgency and tension.”
