A significant permanent public artwork has been unveiled in Watermans Cove at Barangaroo South, Sydney, marking the culmination of Lendlease and Infrastructure NSW's decade-long Public Art and Cultural Plan for the Barangaroo precinct.

Titled Monuments for Fishes, the work is by acclaimed contemporary Australian artist Mikala Dwyer and is considered one of the largest floating and kinetic artworks in the world. Five sculptural monuments rise 23 metres above sea level from the harbour, inspired by lightweight fishing floats and conceived as a homage to Indigenous fisherwomen.

Materials and engineering

The monuments are crafted from carbon fibre, fibreglass and steel, the same materials used in yacht construction. The structures respond dynamically to their environment, swaying with tides, winds and currents while resonating with the changing light and reflections of the harbour.

Dwyer created the work in collaboration with Event Engineering, drawing on a team of more than 100 specialists, including engineers, shipwrights, spray-painters, steel welders and machinists.

Speaking about the work, Dwyer says: "It started with something you could hold in your hand, a simple fishing float, striped and lightweight, sitting in my studio. Blown up to a grand scale at Watermans Cove, this gathering of buoyant forms becomes a barometer of the harbour's energy cycles. I wanted to pay homage to the fisherwomen who worked these waters, and to the sea life beneath."

Part of a broader public art legacy

Nicholas Baume, member of the Lendlease Art Advisory Panel, notes: "With Monuments for Fishes, Mikala Dwyer makes an extraordinarily complex creative challenge look like a walk on water. Conceived for this unique site, with its layers of human history and use, Dwyer takes inspiration from a contemporary form of recreation that was once important to the sustenance of the Cammeraygal woman Barangaroo and her people. Taking on the brief to create a public sculpture on the harbour itself, Dwyer transforms the humble yet elegantly engineered fishing float into a vibrant and majestic gathering of playfully bobbing forms."

Daniel Baxter, Executive Director of Development for NSW/ACT at Lendlease, says: "Monuments for Fishes reflects the character and history of Sydney Harbour and adds another layer to how people experience Barangaroo. Its unveiling marks the completion of our public art program for Barangaroo, which has delivered five permanent artworks over more than a decade, contributing to a vibrant and culturally-rich precinct."

The Barangaroo Public Art and Culture Plan

Over the past 11 years, the joint NSW Government and Lendlease program has delivered four other permanent public artworks at Barangaroo: Shellwall by Esme Timbery with Jonathan Jones (2015); Shadows by German artist Sabine Hornig (2019); Mermer Waiskeder: Stories of the Moving Tide by the Ghost Net Collective, indigenous and non-indigenous artists from Erub in the Torres Strait, Cairns and Townsville (2023); and Upside-Down Garden by Jumaadi (2025).

Several temporary works were also presented under the initiative, including Art Ninjas by Nobumasa Takahashi (2016); As the Crow Flies by Reko Rennie (2017); Art Month Hoardings by Reko Rennie, Tony Albert, Karen Black and Joan Ross (2017); and Naabami (thou shall/will see): Barangaroo (army of me) by Brenda Croft (2023).

Monuments for Fishes is now on permanent public display in Watermans Cove at Barangaroo South.

Architecture & Design Team

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