Well, at the end of 2020 Nick Mitzevich, the director of the NGA invited me to Canberra with a proposition. I thought it was about a temporary sculpture, but he took me to the place where he said he wanted a very ambitious permanent sculpture, and he gave me free rein to my imagination, which was terrifying. However, the more I started to think about it, the more excited I became, of course.
Then I began to think about the things that really meant something to me, and that is infinity, inclusiveness, that everybody under the sun actually belongs. Curiously, as I was walking around my garden, I realised that there were many snakes that live in my garden, including two pythons who live in the roof of my studio. And for some reason, I then started to think of the snake that swallowed its own tail, and how that was a symbol, it was a really beautiful symbol of eternity, of the end and the beginnings meeting. And it was a very inclusive symbol because every culture that has snakes in its landscape has the Ouroboros as that symbol for eternity.
It's made of mirror polished stainless steel, and it's perforated with over 45,000 holes. The reason that it's mirror polished, especially from the outside, is because it's really important, in my terms, for the energy of the world to be received by the Ouroboros.
And by that I mean that it's so polished that all of the reflected glory of the world around it is being absorbed during the daylight. So you get passages of sky and clouds scudding past on its surface. You know, of cars floating by, of people, of birds, and of trees swaying in the breeze. So all of life is absorbed by the mirror polish and the finish of the Ouroboros
And at night what happens is that it's lit. And the energy that it receives during the day is emanating and given back to the world. So it's a circular thing, just like the Ouroboros is the circle of the snake swallowing its own tail. The actual energy of the Ouroboros is to receive the light of the world during the day, and to return it back at night.
I think it's very important that the Ouroboros is sitting on water, and that her form is amplified by this reflection on the water. So not only would you get the reflected light within the Ouroboros itself, but the way light through the surface will punctuate the black surface of the water and give it a more intense, star-like quality.
And I think there's something about the Ouroboros and the massive number of perforations. So you've got this incredibly hard steel that's almost disintegrating and floating on also this other ephemeral material called water. And so when these two ephemeralities meet together, this creates a very beautiful, experience for the viewer, one that's very mysterious, but also opens their hearts to the elemental.
One of the most important things about this project for me is to make a really personal relationship with First Nations people, and I've had the great pleasure of working with an Aunty Jude of the Ngunnawal people. And she brought some beautiful insights to the work. We were both a bit teary eyed because, she was explaining to me that Ngunnawal country, this country, is snake country, so it's incredibly appropriate that such a symbol should enhance the National Gallery and become a focal point and a place for storytelling.
But another thing that's really important to me is the the deep resonance between First Nations spirituality and ancient Chinese spirituality. There's something about the Rainbow Serpent and the great Chinese dragon. I believe they're kind of brothers or cousins, because they're both benevolent figures that create water and bless the earth with the rain. And so Aunty Jude and I were talking about these stories, and it's not that I want to make Chinese spirituality and indigenous spirituality the same, but what I'm saying is that deep, deep, deep down below there is a river that flows that connects all humanity in our very connection to this earth. And I think that's the conversation that Aunty Jude and I had, and why it was so important, and the ancient belief systems that we bring mirror each other, dance with each other and embrace each other.
What I would like people to experience is a deep and intimate connection with cosmos. By that I mean the cosmos is the length, depth and breadth of everything that has ever happened, happens right now, and happens into the future. And it's a web of interconnection that none of us can ever step outside of.
So I would love people to feel this very intimate connection with something that is bigger, vaster than us, but we are absolutely a part of. We are as intrinsic to the great vastness of this universe as the universe is inside of us, and that is something that I want people to not just know in their heads, but actually feel to the very core of their hearts, a sense of belonging to this greatness.
