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Australian Sculptor Creates Statue Inspired By Iris of Parthenon

Left: The ancient Greek statue of the goddess Iris, now in London. Right: Sam Jinks’ new statue, called “THE MESSENGER.” Credit: Hellenic Museum website.

World-famous Australian sculptor Sam Jinks recently created a new statue called ”THE MESSENGER” (”Η ΑΓΓΕΛΙΑΦΟΡΟΣ” in Greek), which will be exhibited at Australia‘s Hellenic Museum.

According to the Museum, the new sculpture is inspired by an ancient Greek statue of the goddess Iris, which once stood on the west pediment of the temple of the Parthenon on Athens’ Acropolis.

The original statue, part of the disputed “Parthenon Marbles,” is now in the British Museum in London.

The government of the state of Victoria, Australia, along with philanthropists Peter and Mary Mitrakas, helped make the completion of the new sculpture a reality.

As the the Hellenic Museum notes, that it was also “produced as part of a cross-cultural partnership between the Hellenic Museum and the Benaki Museum, Athens.”

”Iris was the swift messenger goddess, with the ability to communicate between the gods and mortals; moving beyond the realm of the living and freely into the Underworld,” the museum explains.

Jinks was inspired by Iris to use her as a metaphor for the way we can view the Parthenon Sculptures today.

”While we are separated by the creators of the Parthenon by over 2400 years, by focusing on the details, the contours of the marble, the subtle movements of the sculptor, the gentle care taken in forming the bodies, and the resistance of the tools over the marble surface, the divide between the contemporary and the ancient recedes,” the Museum statement notes.

Jinks is a 46-year old Australian sculptor who creates lifelike, yet fragile, figures using silicone, resin, calcium carbonate, fiberglass and even hair.

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