A collection of new public artworks is bringing the stories of the WACA Ground to life, connecting thousands of years of culture and connection with more than a century of cricketing history.
Art, Culture and Cricket come together at the WACA Ground
Visitors to the transformed WACA Ground will discover art woven throughout the precinct, with works designed to tell stories of people, place, movement and community.
Developed as part of the WACA Ground Improvement Project, the public art program reflects the site's evolution and its enduring role as a place for people to come together.
Long before cricket arrived, the land surrounding the WACA Ground was a place of movement, gathering and connection for Nyoongar people.
That history, alongside the generations of players, Members, fans and communities who have since made the WACA Ground their own, provides inspiration for the artworks found throughout the precinct. Rather than sitting separately from the venue, many of the pieces have been incorporated directly into its buildings and public spaces.
Artist and designer Penelope Forlano has created works exploring movement, connection and the crossing of paths.
Her glazing artwork along the Nelson Crescent side of the Indoor Centre draws inspiration from the WACA Ground as a gathering place, with circular forms referencing both the shape of the cricket ground and the spinning movement of a cricket ball.
Different colours and forms come together across the glass, representing different groups meeting, interacting and becoming part of a shared experience.
Inside the precinct, Forlano's auditorium artwork takes inspiration from the original boundary of the Swan River and the paths created by people and cricket. Flowing lines are combined with the trajectories of cricket balls, connecting the movement of the landscape with the movement of the game.
The public art program also features a large-scale mural by Kamsani Bin-Salleh, bringing another distinctly Western Australian perspective to the precinct.
“For me this artwork reflects community because community is all about engagement and interacting with each other,” he said.
“I hope when people look at it they feel pride in it, that it represents them, it represents the past and the future.”
Known by the moniker Kambarni, the Ballardong Nyoongar artist designed his work to encourage visitors to look beyond the boundary and discover the stories embedded throughout the WACA Ground.
“A common thing I do with my artwork is to hide imagery and stories in there,” Bin-Salleh said.
“One part has a wicketkeeper that takes on the form of a frog ready to pounce, alongside a lot of imagery of play which is so important to culture and learning.
“It may look like random scribbles but it tells the story of this place, before the buildings right through to now they’re here.”
The public art program, including soon-to-be-unveiled bronze statues have been made possible through a $5.85 million Lotterywest grant supporting the ongoing transformation of the WACA Ground.
The grant has also supported the Lotterywest Karda Playspace, new WACA Ground Museum due to open in October, sensory rooms and interpretive works, and all-ability changing facilities, helping make the precinct more accessible and welcoming for the whole community.
Together, the works create another way to experience the WACA Ground.
Some are immediately visible. Others reveal themselves through the architecture, landscape and details of the precinct.
Each tells a different story, but together they reflect what the WACA Ground has always been: a place where people, cultures and communities come together.