Suzy Evans’ Laughing Stars installation depicts Sky Country. Aboriginal cultures have used the sky and stars for navigation and tracking seasonal changes throughout time immemorial.

Sky Country is also deeply connected with the Creation, the Dreaming. It holds the oldest stories and is a celebration of thousands of years of knowledge sharing and storytelling that underpin ongoing physical and spiritual connections with Country.

Laughing Stars is based on the knowledge and stories shared by Suzy Evans and her family, which have been passed down through the generations. It builds on the idea of how, when you see stars twinkling, they are laughing. This speaks to the personification of Country and also hints at the sense of humour that can often be found within Dreaming Stories.

In co-design with Suzy Evans and Balarinji, Event Engineering was leading the fabrication of the Laughing Stars installation. The installation consists of 28 aluminium stars, varying in shape and size, and are wire-suspended from the Level 15 atrium ceiling of the Martin Place Metro Precinct. The stars are textured and painted according to a nine-colour Artist selected palette. Within the stars, remote-tunable LED fixtures run along the bordering interior channels allowing for the stars to be illuminated.

Artist bio:
Suzy Evans is a Gomeroi woman and celebrated artist. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Suzy’s parents and grandparents instilled in her a love of Country, both in the city and in the country as they spent holidays in towns west of Sydney. Suzy lived in Moree for twenty years and has been a practising artist for nearly twenty-five years.