Australian Desert Art - 2 - "Dark shapes are real people" - Lake Ballard, Western Australia (with a dash of poetry)

In Western Australia, north of Kalgoorlie, near the 1890's goldfields "ghost" town of Menzies, stand 51 black steel figures; eerie silhouettes on the soft glow of desert dawns and blood red sunsets.

UK artist, Antony Gormley, created the statues on Lake Ballard in 2003. His work featured in the 50th anniversary of the Perth International Festival.

The statues are actually the residents of Menzies. Gormley did bodyscans of volunteers. The result is a figure of the same height, but just one third of the body volume. The stance and "body language" of each figure is unique.

Each figure took 40 hours to create. And 18 volunteers, in temperatures of 46 degrees centigrade, took 4 days to instal them on the white salt lake.

The abstract figures cover 7 square kilometres of the lake.

On the 25th October, 2007, Gormley formalised the gift; now a permanent feature on the landscape of Western Australia.

Further Reading:

History of Menzies

Video Link:

Video/slideshow of the Golden Outback - Menzies

I am the art of invisibility

I am the eyes of the infinite sands

I am the substance of the soul