Community Profiles

Individual Profile:

Fiona Dunbar

Australia

(Policy and Research Adviser)

Comments:

• I knew this was home

  Australia

  14 July 2004

  I've never been a flag-waving patriot but I remember returning to Australia after being overseas. As the plane crossed the O'Donnell Ranges in the north of Australia at sunset, my whole being was overwhelmed. The sky was rich in golden peach, pinks and purples. The ground was a hazy eggplant and dusky sand. The terrain was rippling, like corrugated iron. My heart soared, my mind felt free and I knew this was home.

• I looked up and it took my breath away

  Guggenheim Bilbao

  02 November 2006

  I saw the Guggenheim in July 99 and it still burns bright in my memory. Here is some of what I wrote then: I looked up and it took my breath away. There before me were the furls of titanium, bunched together, squeezed into the view as I kept walking. Inside, the soft variant curve of concrete, matched with steel and glass and sandstone blocks. Walkways winding their way around. Truly amazing. It is the central part of the flower. It is curvilinear and it does something to the soul. My sense of touch is at its height – sensuality…….total! Outside I walk around and around, my breath catching each time I look up, my whole body singing in tune with the curves. It makes me feel like slithering and sliding, instead I lovingly stroke the titanium and lean against the wall, closing my eyes. I feel as though I have been absorbed for a moment, then my eyes are open and I reluctantly pull away. It is like there is a magnetic force, a pull I can’t resist. This building is so emotive, sensual. I am totally in its spell, a complete convert to the power of architecture, imbued with passion and the knowledge that it has changed me forever.