The Unsung Hero

Come and pay tribute to the humble worm, immortalised in a 1.5 metre golden statue, by artist Kathy Holowko.

Unsung Hero by Kathy Holowko is wriggling into Fed Square to help celebrate Sustainable September.

Sculptor Kathy Holowko’s vision is to elevate this creature that toils hard beneath our feet — eating our green waste and nourishing the soil — to its rightful, lofty place in society.

All hail wormy!

Statement by the artist

A plinth is an historical site for the revered, those we are told to remember and admire. The playful juxtaposition between this cultural structure of the plinth and the placement of the humble earthworm—raised up on a pedestal and represented on a momentous scale—is humorous and yet deeply meaningful. Silently in darkness the earthworm has been going about its business, doing the important and under-rated work of turning decaying matter into nutrients for plants. It is one of the hardest working and most unrecognised members of our biotic community. Their burrows bring water and air deep into the ground providing the right conditions for root growth, creating the healthy soil that we all depend on. I believe it is time that we honoured this unsung hero, and raise the worm up onto the plinth. It is a reminder of our dependence on ecological cycles, the importance of composting our green waste and to think about the lifecycles of the matter that we consume.

More info

Learn more about artist Kathy Holowko: http://kathyholowko.com.au/

Follow Kathy Holowko on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathyholowko/

Banner image credit: J Forsyth