In 1989 the Brian McKay was invited by the architects Forbes and Fitzhardinge to submit designs for proposed artworks to be installed in the foyer of the new Central Park Building, then under construction, between St Georges Terrace and Hay St Perth.
When the artworks were completed the architects were delighted, but mystified by what appeared to be Greek text along the full length of the major work in the foyer. An explanation follows.
In 1964 Brian and his family had left Australia to live and work on the small island of Kythera just off the edge of the Pelaponnisos in Greece.
Wandering around the island, he made drawings and studies for paintings of the architecture and landscape. These studies often included the small Byzantine chapels dotting the island. Entering one of the smallest of these he saw and copied an ancient Greek script that was etched into the wall of the crypt. After a year living and working in Greece Brian and his family then travelled through Europe and settled in London.
During a visit to the British Museum in 1968 Brian saw a display of calligraphic engravings on limestone blocks and identified the script as similar to that in the small chapel in Greece. It turned out to be a 9th century Cyrillic script derived from Byzantine Greek.
In creating the artworks for Central Park Brian intended that the works should be integrated into the architecture. Adding the Cyrillic symbols would bring something of the ancient world into a twenty first century temple of finance. The text has no literal meaning, and each letter form was chosen purely for the beauty of its design and its position in the overall artwork.