A HEAD OF THE REST

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) has unveiled Ancient Feelings, a spectacular bronze sculpture by acclaimed British artist Thomas J Price – and it’s here to stay until April 2026. The Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah Lawn Commission is a new 3-year series of public works that invites leading Australian and international contemporary artists to create ambitious sculptural works for this prominent site on the foreshore of Warrane/Sydney Harbour.

Sitting with a striking silent authority on the Tallawoladah Lawn overlooking Sydney Harbour, the three-metre figure is the first in a brand-new series of annual public works, commissioned thanks to a major gift from The Balnaves Foundation. Known for his belief that art should be accessible to all, Balnaves’ legacy lives on through this program, which will see a run of large-scale sculptures take over one of Sydney’s most historically and culturally charged sites.

Price’s debut public commission in Australia, Ancient Feelings depicts a fictional woman looking out across the harbour. The piece is a deliberate play on the tradition of heroic monuments, and one that challenges us to think about who is (and isn’t) seen and celebrated in our public spaces.

“Ancient Feelings raises questions about who gets to be seen and who gets to be valued,” Price explains. “To have a fictional representation of a black woman, beaming in this golden bronze at a scale that is only associated with power, praise and high standing, I hope it will be an absolute joy for many people and for others it may provoke discomfort, and that tension is precisely where the work finds its strength.”

For the MCA, the new Tallawoladah Lawn Commission isn’t just about beautifying the harbour foreshore, it’s about bringing contemporary art into the public domain, sparking conversations around monuments, and creating space for big ideas in one of the city’s busiest precincts.

“Art in public space is unique in its ability to create dialogue; everyone has an opinion about the art they might experience,” says MCA Director Suzanne Cotter. “In an era where the role of the monument has never been more hotly debated, this annual public sculpture series offers propositions and time for reflection from living artists engaged with our contemporary world.”

Ancient Feelings will be on display on the Tallawoladah Lawn until April 2026