On Friday 25 October 2024, the National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, will unveil Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros, a newly commissioned public sculpture based on the ancient image of a snake eating its own tail. A symbol of the cycles of life, death and renewal, it reflects Lee’s deep fascination with the cosmos.
Installed in the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden, visitors will enter the “mouth” of the four-metre high, approximately thirteen-tonne work of art and experience its darkened interior being illuminated by the light beams that emanate from hundreds of perforations. During the day, its polished mirror surface reflects images of the surrounding environment – a floating world, the transience of passers-by, cars, birds in flight, and billowing clouds. At night, Ouroboros will be lit internally, returning its light to the world.