Through her wall mosaic, Jane du Rand brings the healing power of the Spring Mountain White Rock Conservation Estate to the Ipswich Mental Health Unit.
Approaching Ipswich Mental Health Unit, you find a tall concrete wall, lined with horizontal rock strata in terracotta on which grows new life. Delicate creatures are contained in circular pods, symbolising protection. Green shots grow out of the rock face suggesting resilience and hope. Birds look out from the hollows within the rock face, ready to take off and fly.
The mosaicist behind this work offers her perspective.
✿ What was the brief for this commission?
I chose to try to represent my response to the local environment. Spring Mountain White Rock Conservation Estate was chosen as a reference because it is a place I often go to bush walk and the rock formations there are unique to the Ipswich area. The birds I represented in the mural are all the birds I see often living in the Ipswich area, and so giving the work a local connection to Country.
The brief was quite extensive and multifaceted, the work was required to enrich the public spaces of the hospital, provide staff, patients, families and visitors a visual reprieve and sources of distraction and inspiration, and profile the talents of artists with connections to the West Moreton region.
The curatorial themes to respond to were Country, how the love of place shapes humans, conforming us to the topography and design of the landscapes and buildings we inhabit. In belonging to a particular place, we feel a sense of rightness and as if there is space to breathe. The individual characteristics of places are vital in determining quality of life and well-being. In the West Moreton catchment, the beauty and diversity of the natural environment combine with rich Indigenous and settler histories to provide inspiration. Artists are asked to think deeply about the diverse experiences of the people who will occupy this place and to respond with concepts that will help ground and orient them.
Healthcare facilities can be sobering places, but they are also environments full of triumph, courage, and compassion. A healing environment is a place in which people are supported through treatment and recovery. Essential to healing are feelings of safety, well-being, and community. Artists involved in the Ipswich MHU Art Program are asked to recognise that entering the facility, especially for the first time, might be intimidating. Artworks will be part of an overarching model of care which seeks to ameliorate that experience.
During periods of treatment and recovery, we rely on connection as a natural and poignant impulse. We tell each other our stories to help us consider the past, present, and future; to embrace the change and acceptance necessary for healing; and to comfort and inspire. Artists should consider the backgrounds of the people who will be treated in or who work for the health service; to unlock surprising or forgotten histories; and to reveal and celebrate everyday lives. This theme links to the spirit of community surrounding the hospital. Artists are asked to reflect on that community in order to deliver outcomes that are meaningful to the people the hospital serves.
I chose to try to represent my response to the local environment. Spring Mountain White Rock Conservation Estate was chosen as a reference because it is a place I often go to bush walk and the rock formations there are unique to the Ipswich area. The birds I represented in the mural are all the birds I see often living in the Ipswich area, so giving the work a local connection to Country.
✿ What was the greatest challenge in realising this work?
The greatest challenge of realising this work was the installation process. To install the work, I needed to be able to reach up to a height of 11 meters and there was very limited access at the base of the wall making the use of a scissor lift impossible. After much deliberation, consultation and many site visits, I decided I had to use an extra long reaching boom lift which was parked off to one side and find someone who had the skills and the licence to both drive the boom lift and help drill hundreds of holes in the concrete wall to anchor the steelwork. I was able to contract the services of Jamal Gittens of Beyond Events and Expo Services who assisted with the installation.
I made the work in my studio where I was fortunate to have many enthusiastic volunteers ready to help put things together. I also had a fabulous intern, Susan Trimble, who assisted with the ceramic pieces.
Photographs by Louis Lim
About Jane du Rand
South-African-born, Ipswich-based Jane du Rand uses her art practice to document and better understand the world around her, building three-dimensional landscapes that feature the native flora and fauna she encounters while bushwalking west of Brisbane. Having made note of everything she’s seen while hiking, she recreates these scenes using a combination of ceramic and mosaic techniques. Presented under glass cloches, they are reminiscent of the dioramas found in natural history museums – a contemporary sculptural version of the early natural history illustrations and specimen displays that existed in the Victorian era. Originally trained as an architect, du Rand’s practice also extends to large-scale mosaic murals, with her intricate designs incorporated into the architecture of civic and private buildings around the world. An alumna of the University of KwaZulu Natal in Durban, South Africa, Jane du Rand is internationally recognised for her large-scale ceramic mosaics commissioned for public buildings and private homes in Europe, the UK, the USA, South Africa and Australia. Awarded “Best of Show” at the 2017 Ipswich Art Award, she was a finalist in the 2020 Queensland Regional Art Awards, the 2018 Ipswich Art Award, and the Mercedes Benz Award for South African Art Projects in Public Spaces in 2009. Her solo exhibition Living in Ipswich was presented at Ipswich Art Gallery in 2020. Visit www.durandmosaic.com follow @jane_du_rand
