Jos Van Hulsen & Mary Long

Jos van Hulsen’s piece is a functional sculpture wall with a gateway designed to entice people to engage and interact with the community gardens and children’s park to the rear of the new development. “The work will have seating and create a space for people to interact with. The community gardens and the airplane park, to us is the heart and soul of the space. The work has intentionally been designed to connect the new development with the area to further engage people to explore and involve themselves in the broader parkland area. In initial research of the area we became fascinated with the role of women played in Braybrook and in particular the role women played in World War 2.

Much of the employment in the area during the 40s was in the munitions factories or in the meat industries, which produced meat by-product that supported the war effort. Of particular interest id the role women play in community centers. Community centers are often female centric. It’s the women who (more often than their male counterparts) access programs for children, or get involved with language, art and other community programs. It would not be difficult to argue that women were the heart and core of community centers and in turn the community centers and neighborhood houses are at the heart of the community

For this reason our concept is to build a sculptural tribute that paid homage to the contributions of women to the Braybrook area. In consultation with key community stakeholders we will be seeing donations of industrial objects significant to the local area. These will be worked into the sculptural fence and gateway. To continue to activate the space and the work, it is proposed that each year a woman be commemorated for her work or involvement in the Braybrook area. The woman’s name would be placed on a brass plaque on the entrance of the gate. This will further tie in with the conceptual rationale of celebrating the women’s journey.”