The nautilus-curl of old style caravans and the romance of travel sparked Spalding’s vision of the Loserbago. In contrast to the “winning” Winnebago, the Loserbago rejects the extravagances and gadgetry of modern caravanning in favour of a simpler way of life. Flattened and rusted corrugated iron curves around the caravan’s teardrop shape in an earthy antithesis to the “winner’s” form and finish. Quintessentially Australian, the material also speaks of an immediate interaction with the iron rich, red Australian landscape, instead of sealing the imagined traveller from it. Mapped out across the caravan, the rust becomes an abstract pattern of decoration.

Loserbago won the 2014 Illumination Award at Jindabyne’s annual Lake Light Sculpture exhibition. Lit from underneath, the sculpture seemed to hover on a cushion of light next to the lake, as if it had just flown in from outer space. Like the hermit crab of the nautilus, it is easy to imagine a traveller’s life encapsulated and carried with them in the Loserbago.