A Perth artist is shocked her public work which once stood in the city’s premier nightlife district has been stored in the open in a North Coogee industrial lot.
Lorenna Grant’s Arch once stood in the roundabout on James and Lake Streets in Northbridge until 2023, when rust issues forced its removal.
Lorenna Grant’s artwork Arch, which was erected in Northbridge before its removal in 2023.Credit: Frances Andrijich
It has now emerged Grant’s work is not being stored in the City of Perth’s Works Depot in Osborne Park, but in North Coogee.
While boats and caravans in the facility are parked undercover, Arch is lying on its side beside shipping containers and beside old packing crates.
Grant was disheartened when shown images of the resting place of the work she believed had become iconic: “It is part of the fabric of Northbridge.”
“It made me sad to see the Arch so far from home,” she said.
The Northbridge Arch in storage in North Coogee.
“I was really perplexed why the city even moved the work from the Perth depot to Fremantle. It was at the City of Perth depot when I visited them with the fabricator to inspect it for rust.
“I have not had a call from the city to say it has been moved.
“I found out only because of a member of the public happened to stumble upon laying on the ground in the salty air, where it is not going to last very long without proper care and maintenance.”
The Arch was commissioned by the City of Perth as part of a project to inject a new energy into the heart of Northbridge with the creation of the Northbridge Piazza, with Grant coming up with the unique idea of stretching a lightning-like sculpture across the roundabout.
In 2023, the city contacted Grant to tell her the Arch was being removed because of rust. They discussed ways to repair the Arch, but Grant was ultimately told the city did not have the money to fund any of her proposals.
“It certainly required remediation after being in place for 14 years, but it was not in such poor condition it needed to be removed. The city’s engineer said that at some time in the future it could become unstable, but at that moment it was not unstable,” Grant said.
“And that rust could have been headed off much earlier.
“Everything requires upkeep. If you don’t service a car regularly it will stop running. If you don’t look after a piece of public art, which councils and other bodies pay good money for, it will degrade.
“All a piece like the Arch needs is regular washing with a high-pressure hose and a bit of soap.”
Lorenna Grant outside the North Coogee storage facility where the Northbridge Arch is being kept.Credit: Mark Naglazas
Grant was motivated to speak up about the removal of the Arch and the lack of response to her proposals to remediate the work by the news that the City of Perth had found $250,000 to fund the transportation and installation of the Boonji Spaceman by American artist Brendan Murphy.
“Two weeks after I was told there was no money for remediation, which would have cost less than $50,000, they suddenly found a lot of money for this other work from America,” Grant said.
“I have nothing against the Spaceman. I don’t mind work coming from other places. It was just the anomaly of hearing there was no money to save the Arch, which many people have grown to love.
“I’ve had calls from people with sorrow about it being removed.”
Among those who have jumped behind Grant’s campaign to have her work restored and returned to Northbridge is art consultant Helen Curtis, who was at Tuesday night’s Perth City Council meeting along with fellow foot soldiers in the fight to restore the “Ore Obelisk” to Stirling Gardens.
“It is dreadful that a piece by an important Western Australian artist is lying out in the open on the coast where it will degrade very quickly,” Curtis said.
“The City of Perth seems to have a cavalier approach to their collection. This is an important piece.
“You can’t just cut it up and haul it away when your duty is to look after the work.
“Now if it is to be replaced — and I believe it should be — it will cost almost $250,000. It makes no sense from both public art and a financial point of view. It is always best to conserve works, unless there is a very good reason to remove them.
“In this case, there was not.”
So if the City of Perth has no plans to restore this site-specific work to the roundabout beside the Northbridge Piazza and did not take up Grant’s ideas for relocation, why is it sitting near the coast and not chopped up and sold off for scrap?
“I can’t understand it. Maybe they feel bad about it,” Curtis said.
“Maybe they know removing an artwork is the wrong thing. In collection management, if you deaccession a work you go through a considered process. Then you dispose of a work. You either give it to the artist, or donate it, or take it to the tip. You don’t pay for it to be in a backlot in Fremantle.”
Grant and Curtis were not the only ones stunned by pictures of the fallen Arch in the beachside storage facility.
When Hamilton Hill visual artist Joshua Walters showed councillors at the meeting images of Grant’s work in the coastal storage facility, they were clearly surprised.
The pictures were enough to push council into supporting Councillor David Goncalves’ amendment of Acting Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds’ motion that City of Perth staff provide members with options for the restoration, reinterpretation or reimagining of the Arch.
Council also instructed the administration to provide them with a report on the location and condition of all other artworks held in storage by the City of Perth, as well as review the city’s public art strategy.
When WAtoday contacted the City after the council meeting, it said the Arch was moved from its Osborne Park depot to South Beach Storage in North Coogee because it required the space for other ongoing work.
And, as it was an outdoor piece, the North Coogee site was deemed appropriate and would be temporary.
“The storage facility is a gated and a secure site. The artwork is currently stored outside on a concrete hard stand,” a city spokesperson said, adding a maintenance contractor visited the Arch on March 12 and noted its condition was “unchanged”.
While Grant was distressed to see her work so far from home, she was overjoyed the community of arts lovers has come together in support of the Northbridge Arch.
“All these voices rose up and have created a community around the Arch. It shows you can’t just remove things and for people not to notice. They do,” she said.
The City of Perth has been contacted for further comment.
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