Lt Col Vivian Bullwinkel Sculpture Commission

This practice-led research project involves the preparation of a design for a large-scale figurative sculpture for the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The challenge that is central to the project lies in the way that it seeks to recon the competing impulses of a commemorative sculpture can be reconciled, specifically, how can a work of civic portraiture also exist as an exploratory form of contemporary sculptural practice. The sculpture commemorates the WWII service of Lt Col Vivian Bullwinkel a nursing icon and national hero. The submitted design depicts Lt. Col. Bullwinkel in a standing pose in working summer uniform, mounted on top of a large elliptical base that depicts a gentle watery surface emanating from around her feet – an evocation of the water that almost claimed her life in 1942. Into this undulating surface, a series of stainless steel discs will be inset, arranged in a reflection of the main stars that would have been visible in the night sky on the evening of the massacre. These discs represent the 22 women – 21 of whom were nurses - killed in the infamous Bangka Island Massacre of 1942. Using a combination of digital and traditional sculptural processes, the work seeks to dignify the subject of the sculptural portrait, while also emphasising the heuristic, dialogical dimensions of sculpture as a material practice.