New Dawn

Darren Hutchens, Dan Duggan and Lawrence Halden, with four local street artists

Title: New Dawn

Artist/s: Darren Hutchens, Dan Duggan and Lawrence Halden, with four local street artists

Year: 2008

Category: Urban Art Mural

Site: Murdoch Station

Location Details: Murdoch Station, under the freeway overpass

Description:

This 31x5m piece of urban art runs alongside the freeway traffic lanes under Murdoch Station’s bus bridge and can be viewed from the station platform.

Artist/s Statement:

“Feather floating high ... caught on winds of change and time ... what new dawn will come?” This haiku-style statement (a haiku is a 17-syllable traditional Japanese poem) epitomises the artwork – a meditation on the importance of public transport in tackling climate change and population growth. As commuters wait at the station, the artwork offers them a moment of contemplation. The warm weather isometric pattern background links with the station colours of orange and yellow. A tribute is paid to the black cockatoo and the spider orchid, the natural habitat of which is replaced with rooftops. Pieces of the jigsaw symbolise commuters which, when pieced together, reveal an image of a train. The camouflaged lettering “new dawn”, the title of the haiku, provokes reflection.