The Universe is expansive. We are small. But we belong.

Artist Gavin Wanganeen has been contemplating the Universe and our place in it. His artwork, Star Dreaming in Motion, positions us above the skies, amongst the stars and space, looking through to Country. As you observe the kinetic and changing sculpture created by Gavin and design studio Exhibition Studios in our Foyer space, your perspective of the Universe and our place within it may also shift.

The subject matter of his original ‘Shooting Star’ series of paintings followed a summertime camping holiday. Gavin and his wife Pippa saw what they thought was a firecracker lighting up the night sky. Rather, it was a shooting star. These carry tremendous importance in Dreaming stories told by Gavin’s Kokatha people. For Gavin, it was an unforgettable moment that has stayed with him, informing his art.

His paintings show Gavin’s unique view of looking through the Universe, down to Country -
‘I imagine myself at the highest point of the Universe, gazing down through the stars, to Country. The dots represent the stars and the colour represents my connection to Country. My Aboriginality comes from my mother’s side, which is the Kokatha people of the Western Desert where I grew up before I moved to Adelaide when I was six years old.’’