The Wightman Park Sentinel

Wightman Park sits at the heart of a residential neighbourhood. The work celebrates the community that Wightman Park serves, a community comprised of members of our own species and many others.

By drawing the whole community together in an identifiable object, the artwork becomes a symbol of the safeguarding that a cohesive community can provide for all of its constituent members.

The work is conceptual in nature and involves the collection of identifying material from our own species and the others that we share our habitat with. From the human population, it is proposed that every member of the community (who wishes to participate) provide anonymously a single hair, (the pivot of all good CSI dramas!). In addition, there will be a systematic community collection of material from the other animals and plants (hair, leaf and feather fragments) that inhabit this locality. Most of the DNA fragments could be small, but whole specimens would be included to enhance the immediate visual interest of the work.

The DNA fragments are adhered to the inner cavity face of a sealed double-glazed unit using UV-resistant translucent strips. The sealed glass ‘window’ is held vertical in a simple painted steel frame.

The aesthetic experience of the work develops from the knowledge that the sculpture contains the information to recreate the whole of the neighbourhood that is viewed through the glass. The information is presented in a two-dimensional format that evokes traditional pictures or the written page, devices only able to record a tiny portion of the record that this artwork is able to carry. To attempt to fully comprehend the quantity of information within the piece conjures notions of the Kantian Sublime.