On loan from the National Gallery of Australia, Lisa Roet’s Orangutan foot (2007–08) invites visitors to reflect on the relationship between humans and the natural world. Cast in bronze and enlarged beyond human scale, the sculpture isolates and magnifies the orangutan’s foot — a physiological structure strikingly familiar to our own.
By focusing attention on this single anatomical feature, Roet encourages reflection on the similarities and differences between species, highlighting the close evolutionary and emotional connections shared between humans and primates. Both intimate and monumental, the work prompts consideration of coexistence, vulnerability, and humanity’s place within the broader ecological landscape.
Lisa Roet is an internationally recognised Australian artist whose work investigates the intricate connections between humans and our primate relatives. Working across sculpture, installation, printmaking and multimedia, Roet explores themes of evolution, communication, identity and the shared biological and emotional ties between species.
For more than two decades, her practice has drawn on experiences including residencies at international zoos and field studies of apes in the forests of Borneo. Her thought-provoking yet deeply human works challenge perceptions of the divide between humans and animals, while encouraging reflection on coexistence, science, culture and the natural world. Roet has exhibited extensively across Australia and internationally, and her work has received numerous prestigious awards and recognitions.
More about Lisa’s work: https://www.lisaroet.com/