Ascendance: A Permanent Marble Sculpture for Galuwa Recreation Centre

Ascendance is a marble sculpture by Amy Thai, commissioned by Lane Cove Council as a permanent public artwork for the Galuwa Recreation Centre in Lane Cove, Australia.

The work was unveiled during the official opening of the Galuwa Recreation Centre on Friday 6 February, attended by community members and invited guests, including Councillor Merri Southwood, Mayor of Lane Cove, and Anthony Roberts.

Carved in marble and measuring 500 L × 360 D × 400 H mm, Ascendance reflects Thai’s ongoing exploration of material, transformation, and the dialogue between nature’s transience and permanence. Her practice is grounded in specialised craft traditions developed through extensive international study, including marble carving in Carrara, botanical art in Paris, glassmaking in Murano, and porcelain techniques in Jingdezhen, China.

Botanical forms are central to Thai’s work, serving as a means of translating the ephemeral qualities of nature into enduring form. In Ascendance, this dialogue finds resonance within the landscape of Lane Cove, where water and bushland converge. The sculpture reflects the spirit of the Galuwa Recreation Centre — Galuwa meaning “to climb” in the Sydney Aboriginal language — embodying ideas of ascent, resilience, and personal growth.

The layered, leaf-like forms unfold rhythmically, conveying both stillness and motion. Through the relationships between surfaces, masses, and flowing lines, the work expresses a sense of balance and lightness, continuing Thai’s broader meditation on transformation and the cosmos.