Mindful public art proposal invites participation and play at North Mona Vale Headland

Australian artistic duo Healy and Cordeiro have just been announced as the artists selected to deliver the next public art instalment along the 36km Coast Walk.

The whimsical and interactive sculpture You are Here, to be delivered at North Mona Vale Headland Reserve, can also be used as informal seating or as a play space.

Referencing the loving signs placed on Barrenjoey Road for friends and family on special occasions, the dramatic sandstone formations of the Northern Beaches, and the popular tourist activity of taking photos on the Coast Walk, You Are Here is a text-based sculpture fabricated from local sandstone blocks.

The concept represents a playful use of words that can be integrated into the park to create a meeting point, a conversation point, and a complement to existing park uses. The clifftop is also popular for wedding parties and walkers. 

Healy and Cordeiro is a partnership of contemporary Australian artists best known for their large-scale installations and site-specific artworks. They represented Australia at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2009, created the 2018 work Cloud Nation in Green Square Library for the City of Sydney, and delivered the major commission Place of the Eels in Parramatta Square in September 2022.

Working as a collaborative duo for over a decade, Clare Healy and Sean Cordeiro have spent much of their artistic careers travelling and their nomadic lifestyle often comes to the fore in their art. Travel to far off places often brings to the surface powerful memories of home and the question of what truly constitutes home is a preoccupation of both these artists’ practice.

With a distinctive humour and quirky aesthetic, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro’s work for North Mona Vale Headland Reserve tempts viewers to examine how we live, highlighting the gaps between our grand aspirations and our everyday reality.

As a permanent installation located in an intermediary zone, the new work will occupy a space between sea and land. It will be easy to maintain and well able to withstand challenging coastal environmental conditions.

Of their concept the duo said: ‘We live in an age of ultimate distraction -You are Here locates people within the park. You are Here is an affirming phrase. The words remind us of the here and now, celebrating our existence in a beautiful setting.’

The artwork will be unveiled in late 2023.

A meet the artists event will be held at Mona Vale Surf Life Saving Club on 24 February

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