The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia) has unveiled Ancient Feelings (2025), a major new public artwork by acclaimed British artist Thomas J Price.
This striking large-scale sculpture marks the launch of the inaugural Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah Lawn Commission, the first in a three-year series of public works to be featured in front of MCA Australia on the Tallawoladah Lawn, overlooking Warrane/Sydney Harbour.
It is a spectacular addition to the cultural landscape of Circular Quay and The Rocks precinct for locals and visitors alike. This independently funded sculpture is the result of a visionary gift from the Balnaves family on behalf of The Balnaves Foundation in honour of founder, husband and father, Neil Balnaves AO.
2025 marks a landmark year for Price as a contemporary living artist, with his work unveiled in some of the world’s most iconic public spaces – including Grounded in the Stars in New York’s Times Square and Time Unfolding in Florence’s historic Piazza della Signoria.
Ancient Feelings marks the artist’s first public artwork in Australia, bringing Price’s distinctive approach to Sydney, by the world’s most recognisable harbour.
Standing over 3 metres tall in a golden bronze, Ancient Feelings is a commanding presence. Price’s work invites reflection on identity, visibility, and shared humanity. It challenges the history of public monuments and encourages people to reflect on our own ideas of beauty and commemoration.
Price uses the traditional material of bronze in his sculptures to challenge the structures of power and representation embedded in classical sculpture. His work deliberately engages with the symbolic weight of bronze, a material historically associated with permanence, authority, and commemoration.
“Ancient Feelings raises questions about who gets to be seen and who gets to be valued,” said Thomas J Price. “This glowing bronze sculpture can help illuminate the real issues that still exist around a lack of willingness to acknowledge history, a resistance to accepting people’s accounts of themselves and their lives, and the realness of our shared humanity.
“To have a fictional representation of a black woman, beaming in this golden bronze at a scale that is only associated with power, praise and high standing, I think it will be an absolute joy for many people. For others it may provoke discomfort, and that tension is precisely where the work finds its strength,” said Price.
For the MCA Australia, the commission extends contemporary art and ideas into the public domain and provides an exciting opportunity to renew interest and spark conversation about the role of public monuments.
“Public art is unique in its ability to create dialogue,” said MCA Australia Director, Suzanne Cotter. “Everyone has an opinion about the art they might experience in public spaces. “
“And in an era where the role of the monument has never been more hotly debated, The Neil Balnaves Commission offers propositions and time for reflection from living artists who are engaged with our contemporary world.”
Thomas J Price’s Ancient Feelings will be on display at Tallawoladah Lawn through to April 2026. For more information, visit: www.mca.com.au for details.
Images: Thomas J Price, Ancient Feelings, 2025, Installation view, MCA Australia, bronze, commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for the Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah Lawn Commission, 2025, image courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and MCA Australia, © the artist – photos by Anna Kučera