After just 3 weeks having my hands in clay I knew I had found my passion in life.

In my exhibitions cities display as metaphors, identifying individuality within oneness. Currently I find myself enamoured with ‘installation art’. Through installations I am able to express an idea, a feeling, while simultaneously offering an interactive experience for the viewer. My ‘installation statements’ are intended to create a pause for reflection while perhaps presenting a different way of viewing the world around us. It is my hope that individuals viewing my sculptures, whether singularly or in large installations, also experience an introspective journey, potentially arriving at a new understanding of themselves and fellow journeyers.

The heart of my work expresses a belief in human similarity, even in the face of apparent overwhelming difference, and it symbolises our journeys through life. Day by day each of us builds the edifice in which we live, ultimately reflecting our own experience on our singular journey. And yet each of us, no matter how different, is still part of the ‘city of humanity’. It is my belief that we each seek the centre, no matter how convoluted the path. And because some paths can appear very convoluted, I often encircle my cities with the Native American wheel of life to remind us that all paths lead to the centre and that there is truth in all directions.

My work explores human similarity within cultural diversity in the context of individual journeys in search of Enlightenment.

The city, the symbol, the spirit, the journey, separation and integration.

Merrill Orr,
July 2005.