Negative Curl, a sculptural public artwork that memorialises the impact of the Ash Wednesday bushfires on the town of Cockatoo, features archival images etched into aluminium, which is then rolled into forms reminiscent of film negatives. This curling effect evokes both the fragility of memory and the way historical records can be lost or distorted over time.

In 1983, the Ash Wednesday fires devastated Cockatoo, destroying the town hall and its entire archive. With it, much of the town’s documented history was lost. Working with the State Library of Victoria’s collection, a handful of surviving photographs of Cockatoo were rediscovered and used to create Negative Curl. These images, now permanently embedded in metal, restore fragments of the town’s visual past and serve as a tangible link to its heritage.

Situated opposite the Ash Wednesday Bushfire Education Centre (AWBEC), the artwork offers the community a new way to engage with history. It presents an alternative approach to memorialising bushfires—not just as catastrophic events, but as moments that shape landscapes, identities, and resilience.

The work also highlights the evolving relationship between agriculture and bushfire risk, reflecting on how land use, climate, and human activity continue to influence fire patterns.

Through its materiality and form, Negative Curl transforms loss into permanence, ensuring that Cockatoo’s history is both remembered and reimagined.