What Becomes of Clouds

Located on Ground Floor of Heritage Lanes is Megan Cope’s work, What becomes of Clouds, which echoes the landscape and history by remembering the creek which used to run through the Heritage Lanes site.


Megan Cope is a Quandamooka woman from North Stradbroke Island, with her work drawing on culture, history, and relationships to Country.  Megan uses mapping practices to remember bodies of water and Indigenous language.

What becomes of Clouds highlights both the power of water and our responsibility as custodians of place, with a brass outline of the creek based on a lithograph map of Brisbane from 1863, which is visible on the glass gate at the entrance at night.

This outline underfoot in the marble terrazzo directs the public’s movement through the laneway, while the glass and light sculpture in the ceiling follows the undulation and waterflow from the river to the reservoir that lies beneath the road but continues to flow through Country. 

What becomes of clouds features 28 glass panels displayed on the ceiling, each with a width of 3.5 metres. Glass was chosen because of the way it mimics water in carrying and transmitting light to create a feeling of immersion, peace, and calm.

Using digital prints, the piece showcases watercolour washes hand painted by Megan.

What Becomes of Clouds