Search for Enlightenment
The inspiration for Search for Enlightenment came to sculptor Simon Gudgeon while travelling in Africa. Two large human heads cast in bronze stand next to each other in profile, a male and a female. Their faces raised to the sky. The space within each cranium is hollow, through which we can contemplate consciousness from an inside-out perspective, from all angles, within nature, the landscape and sky.
The expressions on these faces are peaceful and accepting; this man and woman are in contemplation, absorbing great knowledge, at a point of realisation about their place in the universe.
“I stood on a 240 million year old mountain in Africa and watched the 4.6 billion year old sun descend below the horizon. As the light diminished, the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way began to glow in the night sky. Our galaxy extends for 100,000 light years and is part of a universe consisting of hundreds of billions of galaxies.
It was at that moment I began to grasp the narrowness of consciousness, the vastness of time and the transience of humanity.” - Simon Gudgeon.
(Image shows the sculpture at Millbank).
Coordinates: 51°30'08.61"N 0°09'41.23"W
