Image: Lindy Lee, Enchanted, The predicaments of form & Sea of vapours, 2024. Installation view: The Silence of the Elemental, 2025, Sullivan+Strumpf Naarm/Melbourne
“Silence—an anchor in the swirling sea of thoughts, a quiet foundation at the heart of Zen practice. In its stillness, the mind sheds its layers of constructed identity—the stories, judgments, and expectations that bind us to a false sense of self. Here, in the spaciousness of silence, thought releases its grip. We are free, unburdened by the weight of analysis, open to life as it is, unfiltered by our usual lens of preconception. This silence—sometimes called Noble Silence—creates a sacred pause between thought and action. In that pause, we touch something deeper. The mind expands beyond the limits of language and concept. We meet the present moment as it truly is, and in this meeting, we find a profound sense of connection—an intimacy with the invisible forces that breathe life into our being. There, in that communion, we glimpse a deeper understanding of both the world and our place within it.
As I cultivate silence within myself, I become more attuned to the elemental forces that pulse through existence. I listen—not just with my ears, but with my being—to the language of materials. Each one speaks in its own way, carrying meanings that resonate through time. In Zen, these elements are metaphors for the human condition. Water, with its fluidity, embodies impermanence and transformation. Fire, fierce and consuming, embodies passion and change. Metal, solid and clear, speaks of structure and clarity. For this exhibition, I’ve chosen to focus on these three elements, each one a doorway to deeper understanding.
For me, art-making is an act of co-creation with the universe, a dance between my hands and the forces of nature. When fire melts and molds metal, or when rain blurs ink across paper, I surrender myself to these elemental forces. It is an offering, a recognition of our shared place in the cosmos. In working with these raw materials, I am drawn closer to what Zen calls absolute reality—a state of being that transcends the boundaries of form and emptiness, matter and spirit. Here, in this space, I sit with the paradoxes of existence, holding both the form and the formless, the seen and the unseen, in quiet reverence.”
~Lindy Lee
