Patricia Piccinini's Skywhale in Adelaide's Botanic Gardens; family event

Skywhale peeking through the trees in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

Air-filled Art by Linh

From 8:30am in the morning at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Adelaideans and other visitors arrived to witness the inflation of artist Patricia Piccinini’s hot air balloon creation named Skywhale. It was a free event and included an artist talk session with Q and A for the audience. It was only a three-hour one-off event to celebrate the opening of the 2014 Adelaide Biennial as part of the 2014 Adelaide Festival. Piccinini created the Skywhale for Canberra’s Centenary celebrations in 2013 at the request of Festival Director Robyn Archer, so it was exciting to have Skywhale make a special, albeit brief, appearance in Adelaide.

Skywhale nearly fully inflated in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

A gentle breeze rocks Skywhale side to side in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's five large breasts on her left hand side strangely dangle like male genitalia as she stays airborne in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. ©Patricia Piccinini
Image: Linh Chameleon.

Around 10 o’clock, the crowd of onlookers grew as Skywhale began to swell and puff into her full glory; and many cameras and smartphones were used to capture her ballooning beauty to share with friends and family on social media. Although Skywhale remained tethered to the lawn, she still hovered over the trees and surrounding buildings, as the day’s gentle breeze rocked her from side to side.

Patricia Piccinini was present at the event and gave a twenty-minute artist talk session about her art practice, her interests in biotechnology, evolution and the ideas of beauty relating to art. The most interesting aspect of her talk session was about maternity and nurturing as a shared element and experience for humans and animals, so she incorporated these aspects into most of her artwork. I also find it interesting that many of her work feature children or child-like creatures looking like human-animal hybrids. Skywhale seems to incorporate most of Piccinini’s ideas and imagination into how human intervention with nature, through the use of technology that is driven by consumerism, can affect the natural environment and the creatures that inhabit it.

Skywhale's five large breasts on her right hand side seem to look like five human fingers as she hovers in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's smile on her face looks strangely human as she hovers in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's ten-clawed tail looks like animal paws as she gradually becomes fully inflated in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

I see Skywhale as a hybrid of a whale and a cow, which can live in the water and on the land. Despite her name, I doubt such a creature can fly, especially with ten large breasts, five on each side of her body, and a clawed tail. The whale idea comes from Skywhale’s body shape and face, and the large breasts remind me of a cow whose breasts swell up large with milk and need to be emptied daily. Piccinini said she was fascinated with whales and their evolutionary path from a land animal to a sea creature, and cited scientific discoveries that whales such as the beluga, have flippers with five-digit bone structures that are very similar to human hands. Piccinini said the claws on Skywhale’s tail represent her re-imagining of an evolutionary throwback where the whale does a U-turn and leaves the sea to live on land. Perhaps due to the sea becoming so toxic and unliveable for marine animals as a result of big corporations dumping toxic sludge and other waste into the ocean?

Skywhale's creator and artist Patricia Piccinini speaking at an artist talk session about her art practice and Skywhale in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's creator and artist Patricia Piccinini speaking at an artist talk session about her ideas and themes for creating Skywhale in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's creator and artist Patricia Piccinini speaking at an artist talk session, responding to questions from the audience about Skywhale in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Image: Linh Chameleon.

I really like Piccinini’s artwork, even though some of it looks horrific or ugly. I like to think that some of the ugliest creatures have beautiful minds and souls that are kind, caring and more humane than most humans. I particularly like how Piccinini explores many themes, as part of her art practice, that are significant in society and issues that resonate with people after viewing her artwork.