Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney, 2002

Partially submerged sculpture sited on Tamarama beach. At the core of the submerged form was an integrated seat which invited the viewers to enter. Once seated, their eyes were at sand level and the work rose up around them casting them into the landscape.

‘Kirsty Tinkler’s formalist sculpture, Undercurrent is essentially an abstract work, made up of an arrangement of rectangular and triangular forms with richly stained surfaces. Intentionally or not, this large-scale piece, appearing half buried in the sand, was an echo of the equally simple but more brutal shapes if the military fortifications that inhabit coastal vantage points around the world. There was a powerful duality here. No hint of a narrative in the simple geometric forms and the anonymous dark surfaces but seen as a whole, this architectural scale work, lying submerged, suggested there was a deeper story to tell. The simplicity signalled that this could be a detail of something much more gigantic. Like a trapped ship or an uncovered ruin, its spaces and shapes were explored by children bathed in sunlight whilst, at the same time, adults were cautiously aware that a more sinister history lay embedded, somewhere below.’

– Ian Howard Vol 9 ‘World Sculpture News’