The Spirit of the Willy-Willy Wind

The inspiration for this sculpture came from the whirlwinds of dust called willy-willy winds that are a common sight in the Australian outback. The challenge of creating an ephemeral wind in bronze appealed to me. Rather than making a whirlwind from a solid mass, I used the spaces in and around a spiralling bronze band to define the form of the vortex. The hands, feet and head of the spirit figure emerge from the band to convey an upward and outward movement. The head has three faces (at the front, back, and in profile) so that a face is seen from any angle — its hollow eyes follow the viewer.

- Susan Dorothea White