As major construction on North Melbourne’s Arden station comes to an end, so does artist Abdul Abdullah’s large-scale artwork, Come Together.
The artwork, featuring two large-scale aluminium hands, recreates J.S. Calder’s painting ‘View from Royal Park across West Melbourne Swamp’ (1860) on a vibrant mosaic, connecting the past of Melbourne’s west to its future.
Over the past few weeks, crews have been installing the artwork created through The Metro Tunnel Legacy Artwork Program, which provides world-class public art experiences for visitors and users of the Metro Tunnel.
The hands represent the coming together of people connected to the Arden area – from the First Peoples of the Kulin Nation, subsequent waves of migration, and to the future generations when Arden will be transformed into a new precinct.
Abdullah, a seventh-generation Muslim Australian of mixed ethnicity, uses his art to address complex feelings of displacement and alienation associated with histories of diaspora and migration.
Providing a voice to these difficult topics, he creates carefully crafted political commentaries that speak of the ‘other’ and the experiences of marginalised communities.
Intersecting between popular culture, contemporary conflicts and personal experience, Abdullah’s works renegotiate histories and create spaces for alternative possibilities and new conversations.
“I grew up next to a train station and I always saw it as a nexus point of different communities coming background together,” he said.
His work has been exhibited at Australian institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia and the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2019, he was awarded the inaugural Australian Muslim Artist Art Prize.
Major construction of the station was completed earlier this year, it will open in 2025 as part of the Sunbury to Cranbourne/Pakenham line.
The new station, near the corner of Arden and Laurens streets, is the first of five Metro Tunnel stations to be finished.
It will be a sustainable transport hub just a few minutes’ walk from the North Melbourne Recreation Centre, Arden Street Oval and the Route 57 tram.
Works included adding a dedicated pedestrian crossing on Laurens Street, drop-off zones and taxi bays located directly outside the station on Laurens Street, more than 120 bike parking spaces, separated bike lanes on Laurens Street and universal access parking bays located near the station entrance.
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