Lindy Lee: Ouroboros

Ouroboros, an immersive, public sculpture by Australian artist Lindy Lee is now open to visitors in the National Gallery forecourt.

With a practice spanning more than four decades, Meanjin/Brisbane-born Lee uses her work to explore her Chinese ancestry through Taoism and Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism — philosophies that see humanity and nature as inextricably linked.

Ouroboros is based on the ancient image of a snake eating its own tail; an image seen across cultures and millennia, the symbol of eternal return, of cycles of birth, death and renewal. Through its location at the entrance of the National Gallery, visitors are able enter the ‘mouth’ of the sculpture and walk into the curved space to experience darkness that is illuminated by light beams emanating from the thousands of perforations on its surface.

During the day its highly polished mirrored surface reflects the imagery of the floating world, the transience of passers-by, cars, birds in flight and passing clouds. At night the Ouroboros is lit internally, returning its light to the world.

The sculpture was fabricated at the Urban Art Projects (UAP) Foundry in Meanjin/Brisbane. It measures around four metres high and weighs approximately 13 tonnes.

Ouroboros is also a sustainable sculpture — incorporating recycled materials, maximising renewable energy and measures to minimise its carbon impact, making it one of Australia's first sustainable works of public art.

Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros was commissioned to celebrate the National Gallery’s 40th anniversary in 2022 and was completed in October 2024.

Open 24 hours, free.

Ouroboros is internally illuminated during the evening.

It is recommended visitors take care when experiencing Ouroboros in low-light conditions and children are supervised by an adult when viewing the sculpture.

Access

Please take care while visiting Ouroboros. The artist recommends a maximum capacity of two people to fully experience the Ouroboros. Climbing, taking food, beverages and glass are not permitted in the artwork.

Please respect that Ouroboros is a work of art and subject to the same conditions of access and entry as the rest of the National Gallery of Australia.

• The ramps and walkways have open sides and no handrails.
• At night and before dawn the lighting in and around the work of art is low.
• The National Gallery is committed to making the Gallery and its collection as accessible and inclusive as possible to all members of the community. This commitment extends to the Ouroboros project. If you require assistance with access, please contact a member of the Gallery staff on +61 2 6240 6411.
• There is no exclusive access to Ouroboros and no bookings are required.
• Commercial photography is not permitted without prior arrangement with the National Gallery of Australia.

Location

On the forecourt on the south side of the Gallery. Open daily unless otherwise specified due to maintenance. No bookings required.

Contacts

For general information and for visitors with mobility difficulties:

P: +61 2 6240 6411
E: information@nga.gov.au

Preview Art Truckers: Ouroboros. Watch the series on YouTube.

Preview the ABC TV Compass episode Lindy Lee and the Cosmos. Watch the full episode on ABC iview.

Lindy Lee was born in 1954 in Meanjin/Brisbane. Her grandparents and parents emigrated to Australia from China’s Guangdong province between 1946 and 1953. Lee initially studied to be a high school teacher, graduating from Kelvin Grove College of Advanced Education in 1975. She later travelled to Europe where her encounters with art and museums inspired her to pursue a career as an artist. Lee studied fine arts at Chelsea College of Arts in London (1980) and later at Sydney College of the Arts (1984). She now lives and works in the Byron Bay hinterland in New South Wales.

In 1983 Lee created her first ‘photocopy’ work, copying works from the Western canon until they were dark and illegible. She then further distorted the images by manipulating their scale and overpainting them in acrylic. These works explore ideas about originality and authenticity. As Lee states, ‘repetition was about trying to be inside each moment of being … [it] has been a really important quality in my work since the very beginning.’

In the late 1980s she began interrogating her personal history and cultural heritage. She manipulated, scorched and distorted copies of family photographs from the 1950s and 1960s, explaining that these actions demonstrated the difficulties her family faced during their first years in Australia: ‘It was assimilation at the time; the reality was that we weren’t encouraged to learn my parents’ tongue and that is a generational thing. Juxtaposing the images and burning the holes through them was a kind of recognition of the turmoil and lack of belonging: that sentiment ran very strongly through my family.’

Other consistent influences on Lee’s practice include Taoism and Zen Buddhism. A practising Buddhist since the early 1990s, Lee says that ‘Zen practice directs me to something fundamental about being, which is that we are constantly in flux and change’. This sense of transition, malleability and impermanence is reflected in her contemporary work, in which delicate perforations are singed into metal and paper. Her spirituality also informs her recent work in sculpture in which free-formed bronze fragments are arranged into harmonious compositions. These works reinterpret the ancient Chinese art of ‘flung ink’ painting, a practice significant to Lee who explains: ‘Ch’an (Zen) Buddhist monks would meditate … then fling the ink from a container. The mark that results encapsulates the totality of the universe – the sum of all conditions, which underlie the creation of “this” moment. By letting go of the ego “self”, the monk surrenders to “the self that arrays itself in the form of the entire world”.’

A free audio tour and guided meditation complements the exhibition.

The easy-to-use audio tour is accessible on your own device. Bring your headphones and be your own guide.

In this audio tour, follow a guided meditation led by Lindy Lee, listen as the artist explores infinity and inclusiveness, and the deep connections between First Nations and ancient Chinese spirituality. Through reflections of the surrounding world and a profound sense of belonging, Lindy Lee invites viewers to experience an intimate connection with the cosmos and the interconnectedness of all life.