The interior surfaces of the reconciliation touchstone capture the plaster imprints of 64 handshakes made at a Reconciliation Week ceremony in 2006. The resulting shell-like forms create the impression of a rock shelf.
The touchstone, a collaboration between Karen Casey and Darryl Cowie, was unveiled during Reconciliation week in 2007 by the University of Adelaide Vice-Chancellor and President. It marks the university’s commitment to reconciliation and support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities through education.
Karen Casey is a Palawa woman and interdisciplinary artist. Starting out as a painter and printmaker, her work spans a broad range of mediums and presents commentary on social justice and environmental issues. Her signature earth-encrusted surfaces draw on an indigenous connection to land, culture and country.
By Catherine Barron, History Trust of South Australia
Uploaded 9 December 2018.
Cite this
Catherine Barron, History Trust of South Australia, ‘Reconciliation Touchstone’, SA History Hub, History Trust of South Australia, https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au/things/reconciliation-touchstone/
Sources
‘Art at our heart‘, Adelaidean, Spring/Summer 2015.
Carne, Nick, ‘Reconciliation set in stone‘, Adelaidean, July 2007.
Geological Society of Australia South Australian Division, ‘North Terrace, Adelaide: Geological Trail‘, May 2016.
Malone, Gavin, ‘Adelaide’s Aboriginal Cultural Markers: Phase 4’, in Phases of Aboriginal Inclusion in the Public Space in Adelaide, South Australia, since Colonisation, Doctoral thesis, Flinders University, 2012.
Nicholls, Christine, ‘Handshakes for reconciliation‘, World Sculpture News (Summer 2007): pp. 44-45.
