Knights of Elements

The banner artwork also served as the stage backdrop for the opening ceremony of the 2026 Sydney Lunar Festival, where Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of City of Sydney, delivered one of the ceremony’s official opening speeches. Installed at the event stage within the Chinatown precinct, the work formed a vivid visual backdrop for the gathering. As part of the citywide banner commission, it contributed to the festive public atmosphere marking the beginning of Lunar New Year celebrations across Sydney.

Knights of Elements is a digital sculpture series celebrating the Year of the Horse through a fusion of Eastern and Western motifs. Inspired by the knight in Western chess and the horse in Chinese chess (象棋), the work bridges 2 symbolic worlds of strategy, creativity and motion.

Each sculpture embodies one of the 5 elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water – reinterpreting Chinese cosmology through contemporary materials and digital simulations. Organic and synthetic textures reflect Australia’s multicultural design identity and landscapes.

At each sculpture’s base, the Chinese character 马 (horse) anchors miniature environments shaped like Chinese chess pieces – ranging from stylised gardens to fluid water scenes – inviting interaction and discovery.

By merging symbolic form, digital technology and participatory design, Knights of Elements reimagines Lunar New Year in Sydney as a dialogue between tradition and innovation, where cultural heritage transcends borders and the horse charges forward into new creative terrain.