Jenny Reddin with Affinity, her winning entry in the Sculpture in the Garden competition. Photo: Wollongong City Council.
Artist Jenny Reddin was in tears when she saw her winning Sculpture in the Garden piece installed at Wollongong Botanic Garden.
The Melbourne artist is this year’s $30,000 winner of the Sculpture in the Garden Acquisitive Prize for her work, Affinity.
The final sculpture was created with the assistance of Unanderra fabricators Chris Wilson and Phil Brodie.
“I was over the moon [when I saw it] and it just felt so right, like it was always meant to be there,” Jenny said.
“I love the idea that I’ve won, but I love the idea that it’s staying in this incredible environment, that it’s not going on to some concrete forecourt or some other place where it’s not in sympathy with the environment. This is just the most magnificent place.”
Exploring the delicate interplay between mass and movement, the work emerged from the artist’s fascination with utilising rigid industrial materials to create a work celebrating fluidity and organic motion.
“I’ve been working with cubes as a kind of iconic shape and geometric shape but trying to make them look like they’re weightless, as if they’ve been thrown up into the air and they’re coming back down,” Jenny explained.
“It’s a work that invites people in, that there’s a sense of joy and a sense of being part of the fabric of the place, that is to be used and enjoyed and to have fun around. That’s what I was hoping to achieve.”
It’s one of 18 artworks on display as part of the month-long exhibition that was officially launched at the garden on Thursday (10 April).
Three works were highly commended – Mechelle Bounpraseuth’s Kom Pen Ya (Bitter is Medicine), Glenn Barkley’s Of Cicadas and Bones and Robyn Rumpf’s Cave Pools.
Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown said the biennial exhibition, now in its fifth year, had become a must-see attraction that brought thousands of people to the garden.
“This is the fifth iteration of this exhibition and it’s a great opportunity for the artists involved and for our community to enjoy this beautiful outdoor space,” Cr Brown said.
“We know that this brings increased visitation to the garden every year; in 2023 40,000 people came through, so I think that shows how much we value it as a community, and also that people from outside the region come to experience it as well.
“We had over 60 applications to exhibit, and the selection panel certainly chose a diverse range of works using a wide range of materials and concepts and really showcasing their artistic inspiration in this beautiful location.
“Running alongside this four-week exhibition is a free public program with 101 hours of free activities on offer, so I encourage people of all ages to come out and experience this mix of art and nature in our beautiful botanic garden.”
Seventeen artists were chosen to exhibit their works, with the inaugural $10,000 Ephemeral Prize attracting artists whose works drew specific inspiration from the garden.
Ephemeral works also incorporate natural materials sourced on site and were created to last only for the duration of the exhibition.
The Ephemeral Prize and $3000 People’s Choice winners will be named at a special event at the garden on 24 April.
Running alongside the exhibition is a free inclusive public program for schools, families and individuals including walking tours, workshops, interactive sculpture building, a kid’s exhibition catalogue with activities and buggy tours. Click here for more details.
