Ginninderry’s Inspire podcast: the art of placemaking with Tom Gray
How can public art enrich the liveability of a community?
Ginninderry’s Art’s and Cultural Planning Advisor Tom Gray has a skilled eye for seeing opportunities to use art and design as valuable placemaking tools to tell important stories of landscape and culture.
In this episode of Ginninderry’s Inspire podcast, host and Head of Sustainability and Community Development Jessica Stewart speaks with Tom about the ways in which he creates a sense of place by careful listening and engagement with the local and regional creative community, including traditional owners.
Tom manages the program of exhibitions at The Link Artspace, providing input into the commissioning of art, and the strategic direction of public art as the Ginninderry community grows.
Having studied design (architecture) and Fine Arts, and holding a particular passion for public art, he has often found himself treading a fine line between design and art.
His experience of living for five years in Darwin, where he facilitated a number of large-scale public art projects with Larrakia Nation artists, also informs his understanding of the need to reinforce to visitors that the land is First Nations country.
He outlines how placemaking at Ginninderry is done in consultation with the Conservation Trust, ensuring a solid connection to the natural environment and shares a deeply personal insight into the time he recognised a message of man-made environmental commentary embedded within a pristine environment and the impact it had on him.
