Skywhales: Every heart sings

Skywhales: Every heart sings by Patricia Piccinini
Karrawirra Parri (River Torrens), Elder Park
Adelaide Festival
March 12th

I put my phone down and stopped trying to get the perfect shot. I stopped posting on social media. I looked up and experienced the majesty of an underwater world in the sky. Skywhales were emerging out of the dawn sunrise, floating above Karrawirra Parri in the morning fog.

Patricia Piccinini’s Skywhalepapa completes the Skywhale family. Floating up and down as a hot air balloons, the mother protects her feeding baby. Together, the Skywhale family show us what love and nurturing care looks like as they sway with each other in tender companionship.

In the morning silence, I can hear their whale song – a call to protect our children, our evolution, our future. They sing a gentle but stern warning to us about our future, our environment and our care for each other.

Piccinini is applauded for making public art accessible and not just engaging, but utterly captivating.

The presentation of Skywhales: Every heart sings as part of the Adelaide Festival has been made possible by Naomi Milgrom AC and the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Skywhales: Every heart sings is a National Gallery of Australia Touring Event, supported by Principal Partner the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and Visions of Australia. Skywhales: Every heart sings is the third instalment of The Balnaves Contemporary Series and is a Know My Name project.

You can experience the beauty of Skywhales all across Australia in 2022.

– Chloe Tanner

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Header Image credit: Patricia Piccinini, Skywhalepapa, 2020 and Skywhale, 2013. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © Patricia Piccinini.
Gallery photos by Sahil Choujar