Tree of Knowledge
Artist
Peter Latona
Medium
Bronze, stone
District
South Canberra
Commissioned
2010
artsACT
This sculpture honours Australian writers and the part played by landscape in our literature. The streets of Garran are named after Australian writers and members of the Garran family. Local stone forms the base of this cast bronze sculpture which reflects playfully on relationships between human knowledge and our native landscape.
Tree of Knowledge (poem) by Peter Latona
Roads of writers
Curl around Garran’s blocks
Like ribbons around gifts of wisdom
Blocks of stone, books of rocks
Lessons offered from the earth
Ancient as intuition, obvious as clean air
Forests of fauna
Chopped, pulped, papered, printed
Into literature and extinction lists
Tree of knowledge
Top-heavy, teetering, poised to topple
Like children’s blocks stacked up and up
Stacks of options
Peter Latona
Tree of Knowledge, 2010
Bronze, stone
Garran Shopping Centre