Wadhangarii
Penny Evans: "Cultural fire heals country. Healthy country heals people"
About the work
Title: Wadhangarii, 2025
Artist: Penny Evans
Material: cast bronze, aluminium, stainless steel, sandstone
Location: Bay Street, Double Bay
Wadhangarii was commissioned by Woollahra Council as part of the Bay Street Pedestrian Upgrade Project funded by the NSW Government’s Public Spaces Legacy Program.
"'Wadhangarii', in the language of the Dharawal People, refers to the Coastal Banksia, which has many uses and meanings. My Wadhangarii sculpture is about remembrance and is also a sentinel, marker and signpost for cultural values inherent in Country. The two arms connect harbour, coastal and neighbouring ecologies. Wadhangarii thrive with regular cultural burning techniques, and for me, symbolise the importance of Aboriginal expertise in caring for Country. Cultural fire heals Country. Healthy Country heals people."
- Penny Evans, 2025
Curator Dakota Dixon shares her thoughts:
"When I first wrote the brief, I wanted the artists to consider country - to reflect on what the area looked like in the past, and to imagine what it might look like in the future. Penny has done an incredible job of doing just that. Her focus on the banksia plant, which has been native to this area for thousands of years, powerfully illustrates the impact of ongoing development and the gradual loss of our natural environment.
"Penny’s sculpture serves as a poignant reminder to be mindful and respectful of the plants and ecosystems that have existed here long before us - and to actively protect them so they can thrive for generations to come.
"The banksia also represents the families who continue to live on country today. This symbolism is especially moving, as it grew out of Penny’s direct conversations with local Elders, who shared personal stories and the messages they want their grandchildren to carry forward.
This sculpture honours the past while delivering a powerful call to action for the future: to care for country, and to care for each other."
About the artist
Penny Evans is a descendant of the K/Gamilaroi people of northwest New South Wales. Spanning over 35 years, Evans’ practice is underpinned by her deep connection to family, community, Country and national histories of colonisation’s aftermath. Materialised through ceramic and mixed media collages and installations, Evans explores a lineage of ideas and a mapping of Country and kin through an interrogation of process. To construct her works, the artist collates feathers harvested from roadkill or various native birds, string made from local native fibre and clay, a natural material sourced from the earth that is integral to her practice.
"I have always been an artist. I knew it from when I was a child. I love working with clay, it connects me to the ground, to Country. It’s healing. Our Ancestors used to make clay totemic effigies leading up to ceremony, and I love the thought that I could follow in that tradition somehow intuitively."
- Penny Evans, NGA, 2022
With an inextricable link to people and place, Evans’ practice is an ongoing interrogation of truth telling imbued with emotion that forms a strong legacy for her children and family. One that enables a journey back to who we are and back to Country.