The foyer of the new City Hall in Maroochydore has been recently adorned with a digital artwork of a morbidly beautiful message told though animated algorithms and a dreamtime story of the Glass House Mountains.
Glass Lines is a collaborative work between Gubbi Gubbi visual artist Shauna Hill and digital artist Möbius, sharing the ancient story of Tibrogargan and a relevant message about the past and future of the Sunshine Coast.
Shauna spent several weeks painting the dreamtime story of Tibrogargan and his family, while Möbius responded to the work, manipulating visual equations inspired by divine geometry.
The painting tells the story of Tibrogargan who watched the sea levels rapidly rise from the East and alerted his family to the imminent danger. Tears for the loved ones left behind formed the streams and rivers present today.
The lines that interact with the underlying painting were generated by the animated visual equations and represent the unseen resource thresholds to sustain life on Earth that humanity continues to cross.
Hope and connection to land also plays into the artwork as represented by a sunset over the family (Tibrogargan, Beerwah, Coonowrin, Beerburrum, Tunbubudla twins, Coochin Twins, Ngungun, Tibberoowuccum, Miketebumulgrai and Saddleback).
Shauna shared that Tibrogargan and his wife Beerwah had lots of children. Coonowrin, Beerburrum, Tunbubudla Twins, Coochin Twins, Ngungun, Tibberoowuccum, Miketebumulgrai and Saddleback.
Tibrogargan was watching the ocean when he noticed that it was rising rapidly, he rushed to grab his younger children so they could get to safety in the mountains in the west.
While grabbing his children, Tibrogargan called out to his eldest son Coonowrin to help his mother who was heavily pregnant with their next child.
Staring back to see if Coonowrin and Beerwah were okay he was enraged to see
Coonowrin had left his mother. Tibrogargan in a rage chased Coonowrin down and hit his neck with a club so hard that it dislodged his neck which he could no longer straighten to this day.
When the waters receded, the family were able to return to their home. Coonowrin tried to approach his family to beg for forgiveness but they were so ashamed and cried so many tear that it created the rivers and streams that lead to the ocean and weave between the mountains.
Tibrogargan asked his son why he had abandoned his mother. He replied by saying that she was large so it would be easiest for her to outrun the waters without his help, not knowing that she was pregnant. Tibrogargan was ashamed of his son and vowed to never look at him again and to this day he still stairs toward the ocean not looking at his son ever again.
The artwork can be viewed by the public at the new City Hall in Maroochydore until the end of April 2023.
