Ranya Sarakbi (Lebanese, b. 1973)

This sculpture is inspired by the Ouroboros, the ancient symbol depicting a serpent eating its tail and representing the cycle of life. Often portrayed as a force of darkness, the serpent was once a symbol of life. Ancient Egypt, Greece, and the alchemists saw it as a symbol of cyclicality, of chaos versus order, or of life feeding on itself. An ode to eternal recurrence, the Ouroboros is one of the few symbols bequeathed to us that resonates with contemporary culture and bears an archetypal significance to the struggle of the human psyche. Made from over 16,000 single pieces of cast bronze and well over 48,000 manoeuvres by the artisan, this eleven-metre möbius band-like structure is enfolded by an ever-unfolding geometric pattern. The matrix expands and contracts seamlessly following an algorithmic sequence.