Public Works: Sardines mass in an airport

There is a new mural in domestic arrivals at Durban's King Shaka International Airport.

It is an 11m by 4.2m mass of iridescent fish, a swirling throng of metal, bronze, concrete and wood that represents the province's iconic sardine run. For artist Sarah Richards, who called her three- dimensional installation of life-sized fish The Mass of Men, human behaviour is no different - we blindly follow our leaders, huddle together in a panic and repeat our mistakes.

Richards, who has an international reputation for her bronze sculptures, has always mixed her media. For her, sculpture and painting are intertwined. "I love all forms of art. I've never fitted comfortably in one particular category," she says. "I can't seem to get away from doing three-dimensional work, even in my paintings. At the same time, my sculptures are quite 'painterly'."

Richards was approached by the architectural firm that manages conceptual design at the airport. She was given carte blanche - except that the wall was curved, the background was stainless steel and the budget was limited.

"You think you're heading in one direction but are often guided and moved somewhere else," says Richards of the art.

Some of the fish are bronze, but they were particularly expensive. She had wooden fish laser-cut and made others from steel that was then painted.

Transporting the work from her studio in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands to the airport at La Mercy was a challenge in itself, and the installation took a week of working from 10pm to 3am.

Her work is constantly in demand, and business comes mostly through word of mouth, her website and work that is shown in galleries, Richards says.

Commissions are Richards' bread and butter, and they range from a trophy for Roedean School in Johannesburg and a sculpture of King Nyabela of the Ndebele tribe for the National Heritage Project to a privately commissioned, public rendition of King Goodwill Zwelithini.

"I do a lot of private commissions. Different people are drawn to different works and that suits me," she says. "Sometimes I think I should hone in, but I can't. I'm interested in too many things."

• www.sarahrichards.co.za