A 53-foot snake mosaic at London Zoo celebrates pioneering zoologist Joan Procter as part of ZSL’s bicentenary.
Artist Linder has created her first permanent public artwork and first-ever mosaic, unveiling a monumental 53-foot (16m) snake mosaic at ZSL London Zoo to mark the conservation charity’s 200th anniversary. The new commission, Sirona, celebrates the remarkable but often overlooked legacy of pioneering zoologist Joan Beauchamp Procter, the Zoo’s first female Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians.
Installed permanently at London Zoo in Regent’s Park, Sirona was commissioned by ZSL as part of its bicentenary celebrations and curated by Contemporary Art Society *Consultancy. The mosaic honours Procter, affectionately known as the “Dragon Doctor”, who transformed reptile care and exhibition design in the early twentieth century and famously walked Komodo dragons through London Zoo on a lead.
Despite working in a male-dominated scientific field and living with chronic ill health, Procter revolutionised the way reptiles were displayed and cared for, recognising their need for ultraviolet light decades before it became standard practice. She also designed London Zoo’s original Reptile House and presented her first scientific paper to ZSL at just nineteen years old before becoming the Zoo’s first female Curator aged twenty-six. She died aged only 34, leaving behind a legacy that has remained relatively unknown outside zoological circles.
Named after the Celtic goddess of healing and restoration, Sirona is constructed from reclaimed marble tesserae framed by Black Galaxy granite. At its centre is an Ethiopian mountain adder—an endangered EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) species cared for at London Zoo—whose winding form references both Victorian scientific display tables and Procter’s pioneering work with reptiles. Embedded within the mosaic is the phrase “Think of this sometimes”, reproduced in Procter’s own handwriting from a personal letter to her sister, inviting visitors to pause and reflect on the natural world.
The commission also marks an important milestone in Linder’s own career. Best known for her pioneering feminist photomontages, performances and photography, the artist has translated her practice into mosaic for the first time, assembling thousands of individual stone tesserae in much the same way she has long constructed her collages from photographic fragments.
Linder said:
“This commission led me on a fascinating journey of discovery into ZSL’s past — uncovering Joan Beauchamp Procter as a true heroine of the natural world. In Joan I found a kindred spirit: a fiercely independent curiosity that resonated with my own practice, and with ZSL’s broader spirit of enquiry and determination to build connections between people and wildlife.
“This mosaic — my first ever permanent public artwork — offered a rare opportunity to work in a new medium.
“‘Think of this sometimes’ — a phrase Joan wrote in a letter to her sister — acts as a quiet invitation to remember her extraordinary life. As we contemplate the mosaic, we share a space through which Joan herself would once have walked. Can we follow in her footsteps, nurturing curiosity and care for the natural world within our own communities?”
The artwork was developed over two years through research in the ZSL archives and Girton College, Cambridge, alongside community workshops with students and visitors at London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo. One participant’s photograph of an Ethiopian mountain adder ultimately became the basis for the snake depicted in the mosaic.
The unveiling of Sirona forms part of ZSL’s year-long programme celebrating two centuries of wildlife conservation, while shining a spotlight on one of Britain’s most pioneering female scientists whose contributions helped reshape modern herpetology.
Linder, Sirona, Opens Thursday 2nd July 2026, London Zoo, Regent’s Park
ZSL (Zoological Society of London) as part of ZSL’s 200th Anniversary Programme, Curated & managed by Contemporary Art Society *Consultancy Fabricated & installed by Milestone Mosaic and Hooper Stonemasons Ltd. Supported by Pears Foundation
About the artist
Linder is one of the most influential and uncompromising British artists working today. Rising from the1970s Manchester punk and post-punk scene, she forged a radical visual language through photomontage, performance, and photography that continues to develop in dialogue with contemporary culture. For over five decades, her work has interrogated power, gender, desire, and social structures with wit and ferocity. Held in major international collections including Tate, the V&A, and MoMA, New York, Linder is widely recognised as a defining feminist voice in British art.
