Sydney Metro established a working partnership with Create NSW to develop an Expression of Interest process. Khaled was one of several artists commissioned to undertake the significant artworks in the new stations. The work is part of a sophisticated contemporary program of public art, to rival the world’s best, enabling artists to connect with local and international visitors.
Your work, In Time We Shall, is a landmark feature of the new Sydney Metro Station, Barangaroo. Tell us a bit more about your work and how you hope the audience will engage with it as they pass through the station?
When you enter the Metro station, either from the ground level – the Earth or top surface level – or arriving by train at the platform level underground, you must pass through the middle level concourse. In the middle level, you’re either coming or going. It’s a place of connection with all your fellow travellers. Here is where you will connect with the work, which includes seven sculptures of trees, and four language bands encircling the stations pillars.
The position of the works was really important for me. I worked closely with the architect team to realise both the sculptural form and the way people move and engage with the work as part of their journey. I chose these locations, so you are greeted by the work when you arrive, and then the work bids you farewell as you continue on your way.
There are seven circular 3-metre sculptures of trees mounted to the sandstone wall, and four copper bands circling the concourse columns. I wanted the work to be part of the architecture, as if the works are growing from the sandstone and the bands, rooted to the structural columns.
The four pillars support the station’s structure like the roots and trunk of a tree that supports the branches and feeds the leaves. These columns are a metaphor – a symbolic anchor – and the words written around the copper bands in Dharug language which is an acknowledgement to the culture and people here before us.
The leaves of the seven trees are fabricated from copper and steel. Copper is a deliberate and important material choice for the work, as copper is a living metal and a pure element. It will weather and patina over time, and so the work will change and age, as everything changes. As a boy, growing up in Tripoli, Lebanon, I lived near the Tripoli Souq, where the copper artisans worked. I could hear them at work beating the copper, so copper is a reconnection to childhood memories and homage to my cultural roots as well.
As you follow the path of the work, you’ll notice everything is circular and circle shapes are echoed throughout the work. Circles are a unifying symbol across many cultures and spiritual philosophies, including Islamic Sufism which guides my practice. In Sufism there is no beginning and no end. Circles symbolise the divine and the universal. Circles are inclusive, invitational and open for all to share.
"The work may be large in scale, but it is not meant to be grand. It is meant to be touched so you can understand the subtleties and feel the way we are bound together through our connectedness."
What is your process for conceptualising a site-specific work?
There’s a unique opportunity when creating public art in a specific location to work with communities, collaborate and present stories. It’s a chance to share our collective history and contribute to our broader history. It may last forever!
This artwork is a testament to the original people of the Sydney Basin and Dharug language connects the Eora peoples with contemporary station communities.
The way I work is collaborative. There’s a very large team involved in the process, and many people were instrumental in bringing the vision to life.
Starting with First Nations cultural protocols, I worked closely with Lily Shearer and through her, with Elders. Create NSW’s team with Bibi Barba and, at the time, Peter White helped with advice around Indigenous Intellectual Property (ICIP) and played a role in those conversations too, as did the Metropolitan Land Council. Consultation and collaboration ensured we paid respect to the Gadigal clan of the Eora Nation and broader Dharug communities in a humble way that did not misappropriate culture or stories that were not our own. We need to acknowledge the First Nations people, and art supports reconciliation with the rightful owners of this place.
Public art is a major feature of the new stations, with audiences in their thousands every day. What are some of the considerations for public art that differ from other artist practices?
Working on a public infrastructure project is very different to a gallery context, where you need to think about durability of materials and the fact that the primary purpose of moving thousands of people every day. It brings many challenges and complexities.
I worked closely with the architect Gabriele Ulacco, Shop One and engineer Douglas Knox who were the anchor and soul of the project. I was a land surveyor before becoming an artist, so this helps a great deal as I understand the engineering side of things. There are moments throughout the project where the artist must be engaged to influence critical decisions, such as the building materials surrounding the work or where functional elements are placed in relation to where the work is positioned.
You need to really work with the site and the space, and view practicalities from the different perspectives, also maintain your desired concept through a spatial, cultural, and artistic lens. All these elements come together to create the outcome.
How did you approach this project, working at a scale to create a sculptural installation for a public audience like this?
A public artwork within a Metro Station at Barangaroo called for a meaningful and considered work that complemented the space’s scale and purpose. It was important that the work reflected and connected to the landscape, people, migration, culture and stories. And perhaps most importantly, the work needed to connect to what was common to all people, to be accessible and meaningful for everyone.
In developing the concept, I looked at common values, myths and legends across humanity and across time. And so, the theme of the work is anchored in the spiritual significance of the Tree of Knowledge and Tree of Life, connecting everything and everyone.
Trees are a powerful symbol – nurturing life, culture and connection. The seven sculptured trees reference the seven species found in nearby Barangaroo Reserve – Forest Red Gum, Sydney Peppermint, Sydney Red Gum, Red Bloodwood, Black Butt, Grey Gum and Spotted Gum.
The work also speaks to how we exist in nature. Trees predate our modern world and yet remain just as vital today and in the future. Trees are central to avoiding environmental catastrophe, achieving balance in our urbanisation, and protecting the ecology that sustains us.
The work is about the future as much as it is about the past and present. The title In Time We Shall is an unfinished resolve. It asks questions: who are we and what do we aspire to be? The title is filled with hope for the betterment of humanity and as a global community.
Art in public infrastructure embeds art ‘in the everyday’. Why is this important?
I’m a committed advocate for art to be included in public infrastructure projects, not just to lay foundations for artists but for the benefit of all society. Art is important in public spaces for accessibility and the democratisation of art for everyone.
It’s critical to have art and artists. Art informs our identity and wellbeing in a way that is tangible and yet fluid. It helps us deal with the many constructs of our lives. Artists are dreamers. They seed ideas, and they share their dreams. I think it’s artists who inspire doctors, engineers, and children. It’s important to acknowledge this inspiration that artists provide.
What did it mean for you as an artist to be involved in this project?
For such a major project and to hold the space for such concepts, ideas with local artists, is important, for our unique artistic voice as well as supporting our Arts ecology. I think it also shows we have the skills, conceptual sensitivities and artistic rigour on par with the rest of the world.
For me personally, while the challenges over the five-year period were tough, but to realise and see the work now, I’m content. There have been many people and organisations involved with this project who can be deeply gratified seeing it completed: my copper fabricator Urban Art Projects UAP, Josh Milani from Milani Gallery, as well as my team who have dedicated five years of their lives to the project, and also for my family and community in Western Sydney.
