Each year when Bondi's Sculpture by the Sea exhibition adds its artworks to the Eastern Sydney coastline, the stunning view becomes even more mesmerising.

Watch online: Sculpture by the Sea

Frances Bell Parker, a 27 year old Aboriginal artist from the NSW South Coast, is one of the sculptors featuring work this year.

But it's not Aboriginal art of the "traditional" kind: it's a giant, white peg.

Yet it still has significant cultural meaning for Francis, as Living Black found.

"As long as I'm doing something that tells my story I don't really care if it looks traditional or not", says the young artist.

Join Living Black at the 13th annual Sculpture by the Sea.

TRANSCRIPT

KARLA GRANT: Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea exhibition has been a showcase for artists for the past 13 years. ‘Living Black’ spent time with one of the artists, Frances Bell Parker, and discovered the inspiration behind her obscure exhibit. Sarah Bamford reports.

VOICEOVER: It’s one of Australia's most recognised coastal walks - the Bondi to Bronte path, tracking along the Pacific's rugged coastline. It attracts tourists and locals year round, but at this time of year it hosts visitors of a different kind - the Sculptures by the Sea.

FRANCES BELL PARKER: I think it’s amazing just to be – there’s artists from all over Australia but also from all over the world in this year's exhibition and it’s a great networking event, as well.

VOICEOVER: Over 90 pieces line the path that has become the world's largest outdoor sculptural exhibition. For 27-year-old artist Frances Bell Parker, from Maclean on the New South Wales north coast, exhibiting in this open-air gallery offers invaluable exposure. A traditional custodian of the Yaegl people, Frances is continually inspired by her heritage. Her entry into Sculpture by the Sea is an installation called 'Connected', a large-scale model of a white clothes peg. For Frances, this mundane household item is loaded with meaning.

FRANCES BELL PARKER: The peg is a symbol of strength. It holds things up, holds things together, so I see that as being quite symbolic, like, to my own community, the Yaegl mob. When my nan was growing up, all the women from the island were kind of made to become housekeepers or something for the white people, so it’s that sense of domesticity, I guess, where they were cleaning, hanging out the washing and stuff.

VOICEOVER: Thousands have come to check out the sculptures since the exhibition opened last month. Inevitably, Frances’s giant peg will invoke different opinions. For art lover Matthew Shields, 'Connected' is a reminder of home and family.

MATTHEW SHIELDS: It reminds me of watching my mother pegging the line - putting the clothes on the line, you know?

FRANCES BELL PARKER: There’s something about an installation that grabs an audience a lot closer than a painting.

VOICEOVER: Frances emerged on the art scene in 2000, taking out the Blake Prize for Religious Art when she was just 18. Since then she has gone on to exhibit nationally and is working with Aboriginal artists to develop their own style, not necessarily traditional canvases.

FRANCES BELL PARKER: I think the truth is that Aboriginal art is art created by an Aboriginal person. It doesn't matter if it’s something that’s really, really abstract or a photo or something, it’s still Aboriginal art simply because of who we are.

VOICEOVER: While the sun is almost setting on this year's Sculpture by the Sea, Frances says her connection with art will always be a source of light and warmth.


Source: Living Black SBS