Last week was the official launch of Jos Van Hulsen's sculpture and I just can't help but skite a little. Well it's not really skiting on my behalf . . . . it was Jos's work after all, and me being his biggest fan, makes it ok - no?

The launch was held at Fawkner Cemetery where the work is now permanently housed. It was purchased by Greater Metropolitan Cemetery Trust and is now the gateway sculptural piece for the cemetery.

For years I have had a little love affair with cemeteries. And I can't think of a more fitting home for Jos's work. Chrysalis is about the process of metamorphosis, change and rebirth. It is a work concerned with transformation and the need to care and guard what is precious until it is fully formed.

Cemeteries, to me, are exquisite spaces! I think I first fully fell in love with them in my early 20's. Living in Prahran, with a bunch of Muso's, who practiced ALL THE TIME (yes - you know who you are!) To find quiet, I would sneak over to the Prahran cemetery, armed with a book. Often I would ditch the book and wander the cemetery marveling at the beautiful old headstones and imagining who these people were and the lives they lived. This for me was a place of tranquility. A snapshot. A historical document marking the passing of time.

But this is not about ME. Chrysalis is now in the public realm. A sculpture for people to enjoy, love, hate or show indifference.  We would like to think that if you do visit the cemetery, you will get a little joy from the work, but at the end of the day it is all subjective.

To end on a great quote by US author Jarod Kintz . . . “I dig art. With a shovel. In the cemetery.”

Dianne Rule (Chair) and Catherine Brown (former Chair) of GMCT, unveiling the plaque

Chrysalis by Jos Van Hulsen at Montalto Winery 2015