Mary Perrott Stimson
Corner Bridge Road and Hoddle Street, Richmond
Mother and Daughter was commissioned as one of three artworks by the City of Richmond as part of an Urban Arts Square project in 1993, within a broader landscaping upgrade for the site.
This land was formerly part of the historic cable tram depot and also housed an electric substation, prior to the buildings being demolished for the Punt Road widening works and this site being gifted to the local municipality of Richmond.
The two dimensional sculpture is bronze on a rendered wall depicting two hybrid figures.
The work has recently been restored by Meridian Sculpture. The plaque with the wording of the artist states:
‘Mother and daughter walk proudly through history from the caves of ancient Africa across continents, oceans and deserts into Richmond.’
The sculpture is tender and intimate, but also strong and elegant. The artist sought to connect the abstract and figurative, linearity with depth, the past with the present, and boldness with fragility. The two figures walk on a pathway of rock-like waves that carry them along through successive generations.
The markings on the mother represent the wisdom, knowledge and culture that mothers and grandmothers have passed down to their daughters in one unbroken stream from the dawn of time.
Mary Perrott Stimson has produced numerous public artworks around Australia and internationally, including murals for London Hospital and bronze sculptures for the city of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. She was born in Norfolk, United Kingdom and studied at the Chelsea College of Art and then the Chisholm Institute of Technology and University of Melbourne.
Her inspiration comes especially from Egyptian, Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Papua New Guinea bas-relief work, often centred on portraiture and archetypal imagery.
Photos by Lauren Dunn.
Mary Perrott Stimson
Corner Bridge Road and Hoddle Street, Richmond
Mother and Daughter was commissioned as one of three artworks by the City of Richmond as part of an Urban Arts Square project in 1993, within a broader landscaping upgrade for the site.
This land was formerly part of the historic cable tram depot and also housed an electric substation, prior to the buildings being demolished for the Punt Road widening works and this site being gifted to the local municipality of Richmond.
The two dimensional sculpture is bronze on a rendered wall depicting two hybrid figures.
The work has recently been restored by Meridian Sculpture. The plaque with the wording of the artist states:
‘Mother and daughter walk proudly through history from the caves of ancient Africa across continents, oceans and deserts into Richmond.’
The sculpture is tender and intimate, but also strong and elegant. The artist sought to connect the abstract and figurative, linearity with depth, the past with the present, and boldness with fragility. The two figures walk on a pathway of rock-like waves that carry them along through successive generations.
The markings on the mother represent the wisdom, knowledge and culture that mothers and grandmothers have passed down to their daughters in one unbroken stream from the dawn of time.
Mary Perrott Stimson has produced numerous public artworks around Australia and internationally, including murals for London Hospital and bronze sculptures for the city of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. She was born in Norfolk, United Kingdom and studied at the Chelsea College of Art and then the Chisholm Institute of Technology and University of Melbourne.
Her inspiration comes especially from Egyptian, Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Papua New Guinea bas-relief work, often centred on portraiture and archetypal imagery.
Photos by Lauren Dunn.
