Abdul Abdullah - Arden Station
T Projects developed the creative vision for the Creative Program including the temporary and the Legacy Artwork Program, which will delivered permanent art commissions in each of the new stations of the $11 billion Metro Tunnel Project. We developed and led the creative program from the bid stage in early 2017 through to the presentation and selection of preferred artists concept designs in 2020.
Images courtesy of Metro Tunnel
Abdullah’s artwork recreates J.S. Calder’s painting View from Royal Park across West Melbourne Swamp (1860) on a mosaic that extends across the entire façade addressing Laurens Street. Two large-scale aluminium hands reach across the mosaic background in a welcoming gesture. This gesture represents the coming together of people connected to the Arden area – from the First Peoples of the Kulin Nation prior to colonial settlement, subsequent waves of migration, and to the future when Arden will be transformed into a new precinct.
Come Together celebrates the communities of Arden and the station’s civic role in this emerging precinct.
Client - Melbourne Metro Tunnel
Artist - Abdul Abdullah
Project Team - Hassell, Weston Williamson + Partners, RSHP, Lendlease Engineering, John Holland and Bouygues Construction Australia
Fabricator - UAP
Photography - Courtesy of Metro Tunnel
Abdul Abdullah
Abdul Abdullah is a seventh-generation Muslim Australian with Malay/Indonesian and convict/settler Australian heritage. He grew up in Perth and lives in Sydney.
His multi-disciplinary practice is motivated by a longstanding concern about the complex feelings of displacement and alienation associated with histories of diaspora and migration. Providing a voice to these difficult topics, he creates carefully crafted political commentaries that speak of the ‘Other’ and the experiences of marginalised communities. Intersecting between popular culture, contemporary conflicts and personal experience, Abdullah’s works renegotiate histories and create spaces for alternative possibilities and new conversations.
Abdullah has been part of numerous exhibitions including at the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2019, he was awarded the inaugural Australian Muslim Artist Art Prize. In February 2020, he participated in the latest edition of the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.
