Title: The Beast of Jade Mountain: Queen Mother of the West (西王母) 

Year: 2023-2024

Materials: Polymer, steel, automotive paint

Dimensions: 3.94m x 3.91m x 2.66m

This sculpture is an avatar of the Chinese goddess Xiwangmu (西王母) also known as Queen Mother of the West in Chinese mythology. She is described in the Han Dynasty text: The Classic of Mountains and Seas to be a wild-haired shaman with a leopard's tail and the fangs of a tigress. She guards the Peaches of Immortality among the Kunlun Mountains and is associated with the star constellation Orion. Over the centuries her representation shifts from her more primal renditions as a wild-haired bestial woman to a more tame, motherly protector in modern mythology. The multiple faces of this deity as a hybrid feline goddess compelled me to render Xiwangmu as a tiger donning the serene mask of a bodhisattva, encapsulating her dual nature as a compassionate guardian masking the powerful beast within. This work is my first large scale sculpture premiering at the Sydney Biennale 2024: Ten Thousand Suns.