IT’S been an interesting week in the heart of Fremantle.

The case of the missing painting caused a shock response in the community as the large artwork titled Bridging the Gap, disappeared from the High Street Mall during dismantling of a maintenance wall.  

Without going down the path of blame and shame I’m extremely appreciative of its return.

A middle aged couple new to Australia assumed it was a temporary install on a construction site wall. 

• Bridging the Gap has been returned, and sold.

Reverence

The workmen who regarded the wall as a construction site paid no reverence to the display despite being aware of the Street Gallery sign, complete with logo and QR code.

I, on the other hand, regarded the same wall as a beautiful blank canvas: an opportunity to enhance the mall with something different. Same wall – different  points of view. 

The universe works in mysterious ways, with a few cheeky imps thrown in to create a comedy of errors: the  tradies were new (but regardless, they had no authority to hand it over without checking with the agency). 

The agency rep was called overseas at short notice. 

The couple arrived here in December from Europe and are settling into our ways.  

Fortunately, the couple saw my sign and reached out before legal proceedings commenced. 

The  property owner counselled his team that they could have done better. Can’t we all!

He kindly collected it and delivered it to the gallery in time for Ian de Souza’s floor talk mid week.

All’s well that ends well …  Bridging the Gap has since been sold!

by ROS de SOUZA