Lilith

2001

186.5 x 55.5 x 60 cm

Patinated bronze, phlogopite mica, gas, brass and stainless steel fittings.

Self-portrait with fire.

Lilith was considered a demon by both Christians and Jews. Her story goes back 5000 years to Ancient Sumer where she invaded the cultural tree of the Goddess Inanna and was sent into the wilderness by the hero Gilgamesh.

A reality one cannot accept is demonised. Who then is Lilith? Lijn believes she still inhabits every woman. She was the original Eve. The first woman who refused to be dominated by man.

In Lilith the body transforms itself nurturing a persona at the crucial divide between body and mind.

Lilith burns with the fire of passion and unquenchable life. Fire deposits carbon shadows on the bronze of the sculpture. Carbon is the essential element of life.

Photographs by Stephen Weiss.