Work to stop at Harris Park’s Little India sculptures after petitions presented to Parramatta Council
An art installation welcoming visitors to Sydney’s Little India has been put on hold after backlash calling for a western Sydney council to scrap the design in favour of an “iconic monument’.
Public artwork greeting visitors to Harris Park’s Little India has been suspended after backlash from the community rejected the design, claiming the plans fail to “resonate” with the South Asian diaspora.
In July, Parramatta Council agreed to create artwork at Wigram St as a gateway to the neighbourhood after a $3.5m federal government grant was allocated for the suburb.
But after an artist was consulted to change the original artwork to four floral-inspired pillars, the community has called for the council to suspend work and revert to the construction of a gate, which had already been approved.
Councillor Sameer Pandey told the council meeting on Monday night, the pillars failed to align or resonate with community expectations and sought for the council to halt plans.
He presented two petitions with 550 signatures calling the council to approve the welcome gate which would be an “iconic monument”.
Little India Harris Park Business Association president, Sanjay Deshwal, expressed disappointment with the new design because it held “no significant value” to the suburb.
“It’s a very poor choice, people have rejected it outrightly,’’ he said.
“As a small-business owner, we want this place to be shining for tourism, where people come all over the world and Sydney come.
“People of the Australian Indian diaspora are not happy with these kind of designs. We essentially want a symbol for the friendship and a gate would fit that purpose.’’
Councillor Steven Issa said he was perplexed because councillors in the chamber voted for the original artist and design.
“Some members of the community are saying it doesn’t look Indian,’’ he said after the meeting.
“Some members of the community ... are saying ‘we don’t want poles, we want a gate’. It’s all over the shop.’’
Equally frustrated Labor councillor, Patricia Prociv, said the physical constraints of the “Arc de Triomphe replication” at Wigram St were being overlooked.
“I think that this has become such an emotive issue that nobody has sat down and thought about the practicalities, and I’ve had many discussions with the people in Harris Park,’’ she said.
“I think it’s a shame that this has been brought up again and we can’t just get on with it.
“There’s an artist that sat down there for three days and talked to the community. This is not something that’s going away nicely with a motion.’’
Once more, feedback is gauged from a public exhibition period, the council will make a decision on how it will proceed and what design will be chosen.
Council staff are investigating whether the federal government grant can still be used now it has suspended work.
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Originally published as Work to stop at Harris Park’s Little India sculptures after petitions presented to Parramatta Council
