ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC
By ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC
HAVE you gone for a walk along the Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail and noticed anything a little different?
That would be the latest creative art installation that Valley residents can now enjoy along the eight-and-a-half kilometre track.
The Department of Transport and Planning, Latrobe City Council, and Latrobe Regional Gallery with support of the Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail Committee presented ‘Microcosms from a Serendipitous Trail’.
The permanent public art commission by Guatemalan-born-Australian artist, Juan Rodriguez Sandoval is situated across the Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail.
The sculpture series seeks to celebrate the marriage of contemporary art, the natural landscape and artist’s environmentally centric art practice.
The artwork was unveiled to a crowd on Sunday, March 26 with Latrobe City Council Mayor, Kellie O’Callaghan and Cr Sharon Gibson in attendance.
Mayor Kellie O’Callaghan said it was a pleasure to join artist Juan Rodriguez Sandoval to launch the installation.
“Latrobe City Council is proud to partner on the project as it provides our community and visitors with an opportunity to connect and embrace local arts and culture. It’s wonderful to see one of our local parks highlighted in art pieces that add to the atmosphere,” she said.
The artist intends to use the rail trail to raise environmental awareness while also framing the serendipitous qualities of a historically important Victorian trail.
The artist means to provoke the everyday and casual observer to rigorously explore and indulge in the complex and wondrous landscape that the trail has to offer through these sculptures.
The artwork was designed to engage locals and create a point of interest for rail trail goers and to encourage more people to use the scenic trail.
Using the historic concrete blocks, the artist said how he wanted to use the pre-existing structures to signify the rich history of the old rail track that has connected so many communities.
The Moe-Yallourn Rail trail goes through open countryside and bush, with multiple views of Lake Narracan, Haunted Hills, Baw Baw Mountain Range and the Yallourn Power Station.
Mr Rodriguez Sandoval was mesmerised by the multiple landscapes that can be seen along the trail and wanted to harness it all within the series.
“The intention of this work was to highlight … these little accidental moments or frames as you walk along the trail,” he said.
“It activates this sense of time and time travel. The imagery is also flipped … when you’re on the Moe side you see what’s on the Yallourn side so it gives an idea of what’s coming and as you travel through you get a sense of where you’ve been and where you’re going to go”.
Mr Rodriguez Sandoval says the art is made for both people who already commute on the rail trail and for newcomers.
The project was co-funded through the Department of Transport and Planning’s Flexible Local Transport Solutions Program, which provides funding to local government and community organisations for small-scale transport projects.
Regional director (Gippsland), Department of Transport and Planning, Beth Liley, said the artwork will raise environmental awareness while also showcasing the uniqueness of the historic trail.
“This project will encourage more locals and tourists to get out on foot or by bike and experience the beautiful surrounding countryside on the popular Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail,” she said.
If you would like to travel through time and space and see the sculpture series for yourself, it’s time to chuck on those walking shoes and head to the rail trail.
Right: Latrobe City Mayor Kellie O’Callaghan (in denim jacket) and councillor Sharon Gibson (in green jacket) attended the
art opening.
Serene: One of the many sculptures in the art installation along the Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail.
