A new sculpture that works in tandem with the pyramid on the Donkin Reserve in Port Elizabeth has been erected with the aim of projecting love and unity.
The art installation that includes a mirror, running water and a stone to match those on the pyramid was built to both enrich the area and to provide the sound of water to the precinct – something which used to occur naturally but has not been heard in decades.
It was commissioned by Ummi Properties owner Ken Denton, who is developing and renovating large portions of Constitution Hill.
Celebrated Bay artist Louwrens Westraad’s latest work Thandani – which means to love – is on the corner of Athol Fugard Terrace and Donkin Street, on Constitutional Hill.
“My latest mixed-media and stone public sculpture reflects on the eternal existence of human relationships, perpetual progress and mythology.
“The construction phase included natural rocks and pebbles that I selected from various locations in the Bay and is a symbolic process representing a better life for the city’s residents and the country at large,” he said.
Westraad collected stones from Motherwell, Summerstrand, Malabar, Seaview and Helenvale, among other areas.
The project, which started in June, reached its completion this week but, as Westraad explained, the sculpture is a developing art piece and weighs about 30 tons.
“This belongs to the community,” he said.
“During the production process, I engaged a lot with people in the area and it made me realise how much people play a role in art spaces in the city.
“My idea or hope would be that people come here and use this fountain as a wishing pond and a space of reflection but instead of throwing in a coin, I would like people to place a pebble, perhaps from a differviewing ent part of the world or from their homes, to form part of this piece,” he said.
“I want people to form a relationship with the piece and become part of something in the city.”
Embedded on top of the sculpture sits a “confident and peaceful” woman figure, growing from the shadows.
The various alternative perspectives of the structures that surround her, celebrate women from all corners of the world.
Her features can be described as a combination of Khoi-Afro-Euro and Asian influences.
“The simple, universal narrative and intimate core of the Thandani public sculpture remains love, a place where anybody can wish for anything good to come true, be it under rainy, open blue skies or at night with twinkling stars above your head.
“I had a tough time coming up with this concept because I didn’t create it for a particular person or thing but love has a larger meaning for everyone and it made me realise there’s always a place for love and it is very necessary.”
He said the artwork also includes two historic reminders more than a century and-a-half since Sir Rufane Donkin built the Donkin stone pyramid – a “love” stone sculpture at the top entrance of the Donkin – and secondly the sound of water running once again in the precinct.
The pre-designed atmospheric LED lights components can be viewed every day of the week from 5pm to midnight.
Westraad’s other large-scale sculptures in the Bay include the 7m-high Ujiva (which means dance) at the Baywest Mall and the popular 8m-long New Horizon metal oxen and wagon artwork, also in the Donkin precinct.
He is in pre-production phase of more large-scale sculptures, both locally and internationally.