ode together || under moonlight entwined

Look up at our street banners and you might see the Sydney Lunar Festival banner galleries celebrating the Year of the Snake.

Mouriya Senthilkumar and Ian Tsui’s artwork, ‘ode together || under moonlight entwined’ symbolises a snake’s transformation across the 15 day lunar cycle. It begins with a new moon marking the start of the new year and ending with a full moon. The artwork conveys themes of wisdom, adaptability, transformation and renewal – attributes associated with the snake in the lunar zodiac.

The banners depict the snake:

• weaving through Sydney’s public and educational buildings, symbolising wisdom and knowledge through architecture

• surrounded by summer-blooming Sydney flora, representing transformation and renewal

• within farmlands, evoking the resilience of farmers, who nurtured the Chinese market gardens at La Perouse and Kyeemagh

• coiled beside a teapot, celebrating food at coming together which are central to Lunar New Year traditions.

The poem on the first banner draws parallels between the snake’s strengths and resilience within us all.

About the artist:

Mouriya Senthilkumar a Graduate of Architecture, and an artist with a deep conceptual focus on the relationships between people, and spaces. 

Ian Tsui is a Sydney Architect and artist with a passion for design and a strong interest in culture and history of all societies.