Danie Mellor – State Library 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
Danie Mellor's large-scale installation, Forever, will be printed within the glass panels that form the station’s glazed façade on La Trobe Street.
The artwork features historical photographic portraits of Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung women set in contemporary landscape imagery taken by Mellor on Wurundjeri Country.
The historical portrait photographs were sourced from the archives of the neighbouring State Library Victoria with assistance from the library’s curatorial team. Mellor used infrared photography to create the landscape imagery that serves as a layered setting for the significant historical portraits. The artwork is an act of storytelling that acknowledges Victoria’s First Peoples and especially women, honouring their social, familial and cultural contributions to Melbourne.
Client
Artist
Project Team
Design - Hassell, Weston Williamson + Partners, and RSHP
Construction - Lendlease Engineering, John Holland and Bouygues Construction Australia
Photography
Courtesy of Metro Tunnel
Danie Mellor
Danie Mellor is a contemporary artist living and working in Bowral, New South Wales. Born in Mackay, North Queensland, his maternal family heritage is Aboriginal with Scottish and Irish settler ancestry from the Atherton Tablelands and Cairns region, and his father’s family emigrated to Australia from California in the early 1900s.
His research and practice explore intersections between contemporary and historic culture, and the legacies of cultural memory and knowledge. Mellor’s work is held in regional, state and national collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and international museums including the National Gallery of Canada, British Museum and National Museums Scotland.
In 2010 he was appointed to the Visual Arts Board at the Australia Council for the Arts and subsequently served as Chair of Artform until 2015. In 2020 he was appointed to the Board of MCA Australia and the Visual Arts Board of Create NSW.