Lindy Lee sculpture slithers home

COORABELL artist Lindy Lee is preparing to unveil her biggest and most challenging work to date, with the immersive sculpture Ouroboros launching in Canberra later this month.

Lee has been working on the $14 million project, which is based on the ancient image of a snake eating its own tail, for nearly four years.

It will go on permanent display in the forecourt of the National Gallery of Australia on October 24.

Symbolising the cycles of birth, death and renewal, the sculpture was partly inspired by the rainbow serpent from Indigenous culture, and partly by the mythological Chinese dragon.

Visitors will be able to enter the ‘mouth’ of the sculpture and walk into the curved space to experience darkness, which is illuminated by light beams emanating from the hundreds of perforations on its surface.

It is the first artwork Lee has produced that people can walk through.

“It’s a beautiful object from the outside but from the moment you walk in it becomes like a TARDIS from Doctor Who, and it’s much bigger than it looks from the outside,” she said.

The sculpture, which is four metres high and weighs around 13 tonnes, was fabricated at the Urban Art Projects (UAP) Foundry in Brisbane and transported to Canberra on the back of a truck.

“It was four days and three nights on the road,” Lee said.

“I drove in the main pilot vehicle, and it was one of the best things I’ve done in my life.

“I love trucks and the convoy was a kilometre long, with police escorts, four pilots, a backup truck and media crew.

“It was insane.”

Lee said seeing Ouroboros at its permanent home was unexpectedly emotional.

“I’d been living with this thing for about four years,” she said.

“I work on a lot of other things at the same time, but this has been such an incredibly huge part of my life.

“As soon as it was planted I felt like my little girl had landed; it actually feels like she’s at home.”