Waitemata

Lynda Benglis, a Louisiana native, studied at Newcomb College, the Women’s College at Tulane University. She moved to New York City in 1964, and currently splits time between New York; Santa Fe; Kastelorizo, Greece; and Ahmadabad, India. Feminism and sexuality inform her abstract sculptures. She elicits this connection in her work by alluding to the human form. Subsequently her sculptures resemble organs or other parts of the body. Waitemata is made from translucent blue glass and appears poised like a snake ready to strike. As the viewer moves around it, pieces of copper and other particulate matter reveal themselves beneath its shimmering surface. The sculpture’s likely namesake, Waitemata Harbor in Auckland, New Zealand, is a commercial and social nexus between Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, and the rest of the world. Taking Benglis’ above-mentioned interest in human interactions and the sculpture’s serpentine appearance, Waitemata is a metaphor for how society conducts itself.