St John’s Cathedral has an iconic status that is at once historical and spiritual. Liquid Shadow is a concept designed to give a reinvigorated spiritual presence to this stately building using nature’s elements – water and sun.

The power, majesty and subtly of nature is employed to grace the cathedral’s exterior with ever changing patterns of water’s sunlight, moon light and night light reflections. A three metre wide shallow moat of water encircles the cathedral suggesting a liquid shadow of the church in the public domain. At certain angles of sunlight and with purpose built lighting at night, the water will reflect on the exterior walls of the church to create gentle ripples. Like the watery reflections seen on the hulls of boats in the sunlight or when water movement from a swimming pool is reflected onto a nearby wall or ceiling, this powerful transformative visual effect will ‘liquefy’ the architecture. The moving water reflections will ‘wash’ the building to create a new and more fluid dialogue with the people of Parramatta whilst maintaining the church’s original religious purpose within.

As part of the suite of art concepts for Civic Place Liquid Shadow presents another experiential form of light. With Sunscript we will see the shifting shadows of letters inscribed on the ground as the sun tracks through the sky. We will witness the highlighting of seasonal and diurnal changes Water Lanterns will be lit internally at night with shafts of light while water cascades within their sheaths. Liquid Shadow too will speak of both continuity and change. With mesmerizing patterns of an ever changing fluid geometry it will at certain times create a mesmerizing fluid tableau on the walls of the church.

This ‘liquefying’ of a solid brick and stone building- as if it were brushed with a watery veil - will give the heritage Cathedral a new ‘ethereal’ layer of meaning. In a public space, it offers a shared experience of the extraordinary patterns of our natural world. In a strongly multi-cultural society it is a gesture that can highlight the spirit of nature that we are all custodians of.