Sewing a shark-sized rainbow leotard in her Bardwell Park garage, artist George Buchanan was unaware of the social media storm she was about to create. She was more worried about the literal storm hitting Sydney last week.
“It is made out of the fabric you make togs from, though, so I did hope it would withstand it,” Buchanan said of Progress Shark, the Australian Museum’s 10-metre contribution to Sydney’s WorldPride festival, which starts this week.
In its previous life, Progress Shark was a statue advertising the museum’s Sharks exhibit. But for the duration of the festival it will sit on the corner of College and William streets wearing the “progress flag”, an updated form of the pride flag created in 2018.
To Buchanan’s relief, Progress Shark swam through Thursday’s deluge, and into the hearts and camera rolls of those who have deemed it WorldPride’s unofficial mascot.
While it’s had detractors – One Nation Senator Mark Latham called it “garbage” – Buchanan, who was commissioned by the museum, said she had mostly received positive feedback.
“It’s a bit of fun. It’s about peace and harmony and tolerance. If you don’t like it, just ignore,” she said.
“And this big, aggressive shark looks super cute now that it’s got its cozzie on.”
Australian Museum CEO Kim McKay said the Progress Shark was created in consultation with the museum’s pride group.
“The reception from the community has been very positive. We’ve had tourists who are in town for this event say how wonderful it is to be greeted by Progress Shark,” she said.
From this weekend, the shark is facing competition for the title of Sydney WorldPride’s premier animal statue, when the large reclining gorilla outside Mosman’s Taronga Zoo is also given a rainbow makeover.
The King Nyani statue, a work by international public artists and conservation advocates Gillie and Marc which has sat at the entrance to the zoo since last April, will be adorned in a rainbow cape while disco balls hang from the surrounding trees.
The installations are among 45 projects commissioned as part of the WorldPride Rainbow City project, which asked cultural centres, businesses and councils to create rainbow public artworks in well-known Sydney spaces.
On February 17, the Opera House sails will display a progress flag, while throughout the festival the Luna Park ferris wheel will also turn rainbow colours, and the facade of Sydney’s Jewish Museum will bear rainbow illustrations from local artist Leo Greenfield.
Murals have been painted on the Bondi Beach sea wall and Manly Corso, while Parramatta’s Phive community hub will host a lights show, and Katoomba’s Scenic Skyway will fly a rainbow flag.
“It is a sign of how much things have changed since the first Mardi Gras in 1978, that businesses, organisations and institutions across Sydney are coming together to turn the city rainbow for WorldPride,” said Kate Wickett, the festival’s CEO.
Sydney WorldPride will begin on Saturday and run until March 5. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras will be held on February 25.
Rainbow City Installations
- 45 Hearts – Paddington
- Bondi Beach Sea Wall Mural
- Coogee Rainbow stairs
- George Street Road Mural
- ICONS – Broadway Shopping Centre
- Living Colour Flowers – Sydney CBD
- Love Street – Kensington Street, Chippendale
- Manly Mural
- Manly Rainbow Sculpture
- PHIVE – Parramatta
- Pride Beacon – Newtown
- Pride Parkland – Bradfield City Centre
- Progress Shark – Australian Museum
- Rainbow Colonnade at EDDY (Eddy Avenue)
- Rainbow Ferris Wheel – Luna Park
- Rainbow Light Mural – Sydney University
- Rainbow Road Circular Quay
- Rainbow Tunnels in Sydney’s Inner West
- Rainbow Walk – Barangaroo
- Scenic Skyway Pride Flag – Blue Mountains
- Taylor Square Fountain
- The Calyx at Royal Botanic Gardens
- Inner West Pride Pathway
- Building Pride – Sydney CBD
- Queen Nyani – Taronga Zoo
- Taylor Square Mural – Kinselas
- Rainbow Hub – Lane Cove Plaza
- Cloak – UTS Central (Building 2)
- Embrace the Rainbow – Pacific Square, Maroubra
- A-Z of Oxford Street – Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
- Wallumattagal Campus Pride Stride – Macquarie University
- The Dream Cube – Westfield Sydney
- Rainbow Archway – Wollongong Central
- Magic Portals – Sydney Olympic Park
- Rainbow Terminal – Sydney Airport
- Love Pop – Tech Central
- Jewish Pride – Sydney Jewish Museum
- Bondi Bounce
- NIDA Rainbow
- Marrickville Library Pride Poles
- Queer Wanderings – Parramatta Square
- Pride Pole – 9 Castlereagh St
- Hurstville Rainbow Crossing
- Still Thriving Mural by Dylan Mooney – Darlinghurst
- Sydney Opera House Sails
