Materials: Plasma cut steel with a Polyurethane finish. Fabrication by Plazart.
About the Art:
The Moth Shade Structures reference the three of the sacred caterpillars of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). The lazercut motifs with coloured undersides not only decorate the physical shade structures found throughout the Todd Mall but also create distinctive moth wing patterns on the ground below, changing angle with the moving position of the sun. These unique structures were designed to reiterate the significance of the caterpillar/hawk-moth creation story for local central Arrernte people.
If you look upwards at the apex of the shade structure you might see, depending on the time of day, the Arrernte names of the three ancestral caterpillars – Ayeperenye, Ntyarlke and Utnerrengatye – illuminated by the sun on the rusted steel support beams.
For more information about the Moth Shade Structures along with the broader CBD Revitalisation project they were a part of and was led by Susan Dugdale & Associates, check out:
SDA Article 2013
📷Image / Photo Source: ASTC Photo Archives
📍cnr Todd Mall & Parsons St