BANYO CBD QLD
“…they don’t ever want to move. It’s a little community that you feel you’re involved with, different to being in the city suburbs”
“…we feel safe when everyone knows each other”
The ‘Open Door’ installation symbolizes the close knit, welcoming community of Banyo; past and present. The history of the Banyo area since ‘white ‘settlement is rich and at times turbulent. Much has changed yet despite the areas’ close proximity to the Brisbane CBD; Banyo remains a quiet family oriented suburb.
Personal histories and recollections of the area paint a picture of a community that places great stock in friendship and support, a community that has always been tolerant, laid back and safe, that maintains a long tradition of neighbourliness and welcome. ‘Open Door’ symbolizes passage and safe harbor, welcome and support, tolerance and openness. An abstracted yet recognizable archetypal symbol, an open door allows a glimpse into the lives of others and acts as a threshold between the past and the future. It represents opportunity to actually make a difference in the world and embodies notions of safety and home.
Our artistic abstraction of this potent symbol is intentional. It prevents the installation from being too static, one dimensional and fixed in meaning.
The viewer is compelled to fill in the missing pieces, pieces that now have a contained energy, a possibility of change; the resultant negative spaces providing visual interest from many angles. More importantly—and we hope intriguingly so; the separated components infer a dialogue, a coming together, a consensus.