By Alexander Savvas
Notos is a massive wind sculpture, an audible and optical manifestation of the air itself.
A personification of air-in-motion capable of being moved on its axis to catch the moment’s airstream and turn it into song. As the first in a series of sculptures depicting the Anemoi, the four winds as named in Greek mythos, Notos is the incarnation of the South Wind roaring up from Africa. The powerful features of the native African face will whistle, howl, and sing with the kinetic energy of the wind as it passes through the intricately layered pipes of the sculpture. The observer may thus experience the visceral force of their environment and, in turn, reconnect with their innate being. Each of the four statues, built at the cardinal compass points, will ultimately bear the features of the indigenous people of their location.
Being the first in a series of four sculptures placed around the globe and embodying the Ancient Greek wind gods of the cardinal compass points, Notos takes one simple man-made object and, through repetition, develops it into something far more complex. Standing juxtaposed to its natural surroundings, Notos unites humanity‘s inherently contradictory nature. Born from synthetic, forged elements to represent our misguided detachment from the natural world, yet providing a voice for nature to speak to us.
The reflective and multi-faceted, yet curved surface of the piece collects and warps its surrounding environment into the structure of the human head, symbolising our strained relationship with the natural world and our struggle to truly find our place within it, whilst demonstrating that we are still of the Earth, no matter our disconnect.
The kinetic interaction between the viewer and Notos provides a plane of engagement that incorporates both the art piece and one of nature‘s most intangible forces. The element of play, manifested in the manipulation of the piece to interact with the wind, encourages the participant to tune into nature and their surroundings.
It creates a conscious imprint of the often unconscious effect we have on nature, and vice-versa; a reminder that we are both on the Earth, and of the Earth. Notos will stand as a physical reminder of the power, beauty, and importance of all natural elements, but in particular, it will be an ode to the dynamism of the wind.