Transform by Ann Woo and Sharon Billinge

Look up at our street banners and you might see the Sydney Lunar Festival banner galleries celebrating the Year of the Snake.

Ann Woo and Sharon Billinge’s artwork features 2 snakes: the red necked keelback from Hong Kong and the green tree snake from Sydney. It’s inspired by Ann’s experiences of growing up Chinese in Australia in the 1980s and 90s.

The entwined snakes represent the meeting and merging of the 2 cultures and their ultimate transformation into one – but still with two voices.

“One of the concepts symbolised by the snake in Chinese culture is that of shape shifting,” Ann said.

“As a young Chinese-Australian in the 1980s and 90s, I often felt the need to ‘shape shift’ to be accepted by mainstream Australia.”

About the artists

Ann Woo is a Sydney (Gadigal) based sign artist who works mainly with hand-painted signage. Her love of signwriting stems from a childhood of creating signs for her father’s Chinese restaurant, colouring drawn letters and adding lettering effects.

Sharon Billinge is a Sydney-based artist whose practice is concerned with the transformation of public space. Her large, site-specific murals can be seen in cities across Australia.

Download the Sydney Culture Walks app to see the locations of all lanterns, artwork installations, banner galleries and more in the Lunar Walk.