Robert Andrew

Robert Andrew’s Grounded in the present is a highly integrated artwork, sited on the civic groundplane beneath BVN’s soaring canopy designed for The Annex, a Dexus commercial tower at 12 Creek Street. Directly opposite a stand of Brisbane’s heritage listed fig trees, the artwork incorporates a space for seating and invites passers-by to pause, contemplate, and imagine the stories – past, present and future – of the country we draw from and upon.

Invoking references to pre-colonial times, forms, people and places, Andrew – a descendant of the Yawuru people – gestures to the ecological history of 12 Creek Street by heroing the region’s endemic mangrove trees and proximity to the river. By unveiling this past and the knowledge it leads us to, Andrew hopes we may be more actively grounded in the present.

UAP curated, designed and delivered the artwork which incorporates cast concrete,
cast bronze and steel that will weather and change over time, echoing the foundation of Andrew’s practice that combines mechanisms of erosion and exposition as a method to explore and uncover lost narratives.