Large gorilla sculpture installed in Batemans Bay Park divides opinion

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A three-metre-tall bronze gorilla on the New South Wales south coast is drawing crowds and raising some eyebrows. The artwork is one of 22 sculptures permanently donated to the Eurobodalla shire by internationally acclaimed artists Gillie and Marc.

Transcript

00:00We've been very lucky to have a sculpture event here on the south coast for the last

00:05couple of years and because of that Gillian Mott reached out to us earlier this year and

00:11wanted to make the donation and it's come about fairly quickly and it's been obviously

00:15there's been a lot of talk and media hype around it in the community. Those that love

00:19it and hate it have come out in force and I think overall though it's a fantastic win

00:23for the community.

00:24Yeah and what's the reception been like for the first one there behind you? We can

00:29tell some of the kids like it and has it got a name yet?

00:32Yeah it does Meena, it was named before we received it and you know I think it was an

00:38initial shock for the community and now that I guess they've not only seen the story but

00:43also see that the amount of donation that we received and the sculptures that are going

00:47in. This is the second one that's gone in but obviously the largest as well so it's made

00:50the bigger impact but the queues have been forming every day to take photos with it and

00:54I'm sure once tourism season really hits down here on the south coast both the viewers around

00:59New South Wales and further afield will be wanting to stand in line as well.

01:02Yeah cool so you've got 20 odd more sculptures to go. How are you deciding where they go

01:07in the Shire?

01:08Yeah we've gone through a process meeting with the community in all of our three

01:12major towns showcasing what the sculptures that are coming and where the plans were for

01:17that and then just sort of having that consultation and chats with the community. But we've really

01:22chosen to make sure that we spread them out. We want to make sure we share the love around

01:25the whole community. Not only to get the tourists moving about but also so that those in the

01:30far south of the Shire see the you know the wind that we've gotten for the community.

01:34Yeah and we've got a shot of the other sculpture that you've already got. Can you just talk

01:39to that a bit for us?

01:40Yeah it's a blue ring on a bicycle. I think really about all these sculptures it's about

01:44interaction and it's making sure that you know it's something you want to stop, take

01:48a photo of but also climb on. You know it's really it's great for the kids and I think what

01:52we're seeing is we've seen high school kids come down here and take photos at the school. We've

01:56seen my young kids here in the background as well that have been climbing on it but there's

02:00lots of demand from the local community but I know that we've had a lot of correspondence from those

02:05further afield and really keen that once the summer hits that they're going to be wanting to get down

02:10here and see that whole trail across the whole Shire which will obviously spread the spin for all

02:14of our local businesses.

02:15Yeah cool and what are some examples of the other sculptures that you're going to get and are they as big

02:22as Mina?

02:22No Mina is definitely the biggest not to shock anyone else but there you know there are 21 critically

02:29endangered animals as well as the one that we've already placed at Noorooma and it's all about

02:33starting that conversation around those endangered animals and I think there'll be some that say it

02:37should be local native animals but you know this was a collaboration between the artists wanting to

02:42make a donation and this was one of those installations and pieces that we were able to get so I think it

02:46started conversation which is what art's supposed to do and it's I think it's just a big win for us totally.

02:50Yeah and the fires were terrible there several years ago how are you how has the process of recovery

02:57been and how do things like this help?

03:01Yeah you know every time the fires come up it's it's something that hits a real nerve with us all

03:05but it's we're coming up on the six year anniversary of Black Summer for us down here on the south coast and

03:11uh it's these little steps I think you know coming together as a community uh you know having donations

03:16like this made uh that really start bringing us back together it gets the community talking gets them

03:21out and about and again this is something that's free for the for the local kids to uh get around

03:26it's fully accessible totally free for the whole community and I think it's uh it's it's something

03:30that's a big win.

03:31Yeah okay and before I let you go how did you guys go with the heat today because yeah been a lot of talk

03:35about the the fire risk over over the today and the coming days how'd you go today?

03:40Yeah it was pretty good down here funnily enough this morning I woke up in gold when I was up there

03:43for a for a council conference at the big marino uh so I got to see that and then come down here and

03:49it's it's been handled pretty well and it's it's cooled right down now

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