The artists selected to create the Lost at Sea Public Art Installation are seeking the community's help to find a vital element of the design, which takes the form of a giant seashell.
An initiative of Port Macquarie Hastings Council, the Lost at Sea project was born out of a desire from community members to remember their loved ones who have lost their lives along our coastline. The Lost at Sea sculpture is a collaboration between PMHC and the community, to bring recognition to the significance of human life – and create a place to remember those who have tragically lost their lives at sea.
The installation will provide a permanent, safe and welcoming space, for family and friends to reflect, remember and reminisce.
Art and architecture collective Cave Urban has been commissioned to design and install the installation - and the company is looking for the perfect local shell on which to base the final shape of the sculpture.
Cave Urban's Creative Director Juan Pablo Pinto says while the selected submission was based on the shape of a conch shell, it was always their intention to use a home-grown shell if their bid was successful.
"We chose a conch shell to express our vision of the installation as a place of deeper contemplation and connection, a place of calling-out-to and listening-for lost loved ones," Pinto said.
"Also, on a purely practical level, it proved to be an ideal shape for the vital role of accommodating people. We need to be able to comfortably fit three or four people inside the sculpture, both standing up and sitting down together."
"The physical size of the local shell is not important. Whether the shell is tiny or large, it doesn't matter, we'll scan it to make a 3D model and scale it up."
As a starting point in the search, Pinto nominated the local volute shell as a potential candidate.
"It ticks some design boxes for us - but we are excited to see what other species the local community can turn up, so let the hunt begin!"
Group Manager Community Lucilla Marshall says this is an exciting development in a very significant project.
"This permanent, interactive and functional sculptural space will provide a place where family members and friends can go to reflect, grieve and connect with someone they have lost at sea."
"The choice by Cave Urban to ask for the community's help in finding the model shell is a beautiful way to directly include them in the process."
"We are excited to be working with this world class collective of artists, architects and sculptors - whose incredible work can be seen right around the country."
Submissions have opened for community members to put forward their shell, submitting a photo using a form on the Port Macquarie Hastings Council website – https://www.pmhc.nsw.gov.au/Your-Council/About-us/What-we-do/Lost-at-Sea-Public-Art-Installation
Submissions now open and close on the 8th of August.
To learn more about the Lost at Sea project, the community can visit the link above, which includes a video of the Cave Urban artists giving more insight into the kind of shell they are looking for by examining a few classic shell shapes.
