Lake Ballard is an ephemeral salt lake in the Shire of Menzies, Goldfields-Esperance area of Western Australia, with its eastern end about 18 kilometres (11 mi) north of Menzies.
In 2003, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Perth International Arts Festival the Inside Australia exhibition was commissioned. The artist and Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley installed 51 metal sculptures over an area of 10 square kilometres (4 sq mi) on the bed of the lake. Each sculpture represented a local resident of Menzies, derived from the laser scans of the town's residents. The statues were to be removed at the conclusion of the festival but remain as a tourist exhibition. It is the largest outdoor art gallery on earth.
The lake is used as a breeding site for banded stilts following major flood events. The stilts nest in large close-packed colonies on low islands in ephemeral inland salt lakes such as Lake Eyre, Lake Barlee and Lake Ballard.
- Wikipedia