Wire Doves Soar at Wesley Edward Eagar Centre

Wesley Edward Eagar Centre in Surry Hills provides crisis accommodation and support for the homeless. Wesley Mission’s dove symbolises the spirt of care and compassion at work in the lives of those helped. Scott Carver Architects were asked to include doves in the design for the refurbishment of the centre.

Di Emme was engaged to help explore different ideas and options. The client wanted birds to soar in the vast space above the ground floor cafe. Having seen Di Emme’s floating wire mesh sculpture in the West Hotel lobby, the architect sought to employ a similar technique to create giant doves.

Di Emme produced several prototypes to shore up the sizing and building technique, and to refine the dove design to strike a balance between anatomical realism and artistic interpretation. Artistic fabricator, Darren Roswell, constructed the birds in Di Emme’s Leichhardt studio. Darren sculpted wire frames, wrapped them in chicken wire, removed the frames, and then sprayed the mesh structures gold.

Multiple fixing points on each bird allowed for subtle changes during installation, like the lifting of a wing or tipping back of a tail. The birds are fitted with individual winches for raising and lowering for cleaning.

The eight doves in different stages of flight depict a journey of empowerment – gaining the confidence to fly back out into the world.