A Confusion of Angles

Looking through the balustrade and supports of a 19th Century carved sandstone staircase from close-up. The top railing is massive, carved and fluted, echoing the sharp upwards angle of the sandtone base. Between them, each upright is a squat pillar carved into a shape like a chess piece, a queen or a rook, perhaps, with broad rectangles, narrow lips and delicate, flowing curves. Their mirror image uprights are visible beyond slate-grey steps whose edges are painted white, and through the gaps the planes of a sandstone building and its windows disrupt the symmetry of the columns. In the foreground a single, browning leaf lies curling between two uprights.

Sydney Town Hall, Druitt Street