Vivid Sydney Earth Deities
VIVID SYDNEY
EARTH DEITIES
ARTIST: RAMESH NITHIYENDRAN
CLIENT: DESTINATION NSW
Creative Road presented Ramesh Nithiyendran’s temporary artwork Earth Deities at Vivid Sydney 2022 – an annual festival of light, music and ideas. The monumental multi-limbed cacophonous avatar towered over a corner of Hickson Road Reserve, pulsing with a synthesis of dramatic lighting and sound. The sculpture was positioned between Sydney landmarks – the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park – and reflected upon Sydney as a global, multicultural city with plural histories.
According to Ramesh, the part-idol, part-monster, part-hero gestures to a range of global sources that link his cultural background to contemporary culture at large.
Photography: Mark Pokorny
“The work extends core processes of my art practice – especially the transfiguration of earth, fire and water – while connecting ways destruction has been positioned as a generative force in various narratives of belief.” Ramesh Nithiyendran