You may not have considered sitting down and having a cry on Lake Burley Griffin, but there's now a piece of public art that encourages just that.
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A new interactive sculpture, the Crying Dinghy, by prominent local artist Dr Hanna Hoyne has been unveiled at Henry Rolland Park, at West Basin, on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin.
The $100,000 dollar piece of artwork is part of Dr Hoyne's Cosmic Recharge series with other artworks featured in Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea and another at the University of Canberra.
She said public enjoyment of her artwork was a key way of finding meaning in her work.
The vessel was designed to lie in, with the two giant pipes coming out the pillow representing ears.
"It's a spirit recharge vessel," she said.
"It's something we can physically inhabit that also gives us a sense of a moment to reflect and go into our own thoughts.
"You throw yourself on your bed when you have had a bad day to have a good cry and soak your pillow and tears will go out onto your pipes.
"Once you've had a good cry you feel a little less heavy and more buoyant and lighter.
“It talks to our individual vulnerability, our need to communicate it, but also to the idea of rescue, safety and inner resourcefulness."
Dr Hoyne said she wanted the artwork to be relevant to the people living in Canberra and encourage people to ponder how we relate to ourselves and others around us.
She was thrilled when passing cyclists took interest in the sculpture as it was unveiled and laid in it.
"That made me a bit teary," she said.
"I want people to feel it and inhabit it.
"My hope is that it will have grubby fingerprints all over it soon.
"Sometimes being an artist can feel superfluous because you're not a medical officer or helping more.
"To be able to see people actually own a work of yours that is made for others makes it so worthwhile."
City Renewal Authority chief executive Malcolm Snow said the sculpture would complement the other facilities and landscape features in the first stage of the West Basin redevelopment.
“Great cities around the world have a rich fabric of both permanent and temporary artworks throughout their public places,” he said.
“Unlike other artworks, people are encouraged to play, touch and interact with the sculpture."
Hanna Hoyne’s collaboration with Redbox Design and UAP was chosen following a tender process for a new public artwork costing $100,000.
