AMULETS
AMULETS
Feathers, sand, ceramics, kyanite, selenite, sodalite,
iron ore, blue quartz, iron, fabric, and glass beads
260m2
2025
SculptureCenter
Behind the visible lies something unseen in the behavior of the earth, which led me to reflect on how the mineral realm might be an amulet for itself. Feathers and knots are, respectively, the material and the gesture traditionally present in the making of amulets across many contexts.
In this exhibition, I focus on the existence of the amulet through gesture rather than through the object itself. Amulets are usually understood as small items carried in one’s pocket, but I seek to expand this perception, imagining the amulet as something that can encompass the whole, not just a detail. For me, what affirms the presence of an amulet is not its form, but the way it is made.
I turn my gaze to volcanic eruptions, moments when the earth ignites a feeling and shares this affection with the surface of the world. Magma rises in a vertical surge, yet at the same time it flows horizontally. When a volcano erupts, what it spills forth is the landscape itself.
I also reflect on the movement of earthquakes through the lens of Bantu philosophy, in which the idea of ascension, unlike in European logic, is not solely upward toward the sky but multidirectional. An earthquake is a moment when the earth ascends upward, outward, and, above all, downward - its most profound ascension being the act of burrowing deeper into the ground.
I observe, too, the dance between iron and nickel at the earth’s core, where
temperatures reach approximately 3000ºC, sustaining the planet’s central energy. The possibility of remaining in orbit exists in the tension between what is visible and invisible, tangible and sensed. From these potentialities inherent to the body of matter, I imagine places of protection where minerals can persist in the face of capitalism’s extractive dynamics.
Thus, the earth can become an amulet of itself, for itself.
The exhibition unfolds through eight smaller installations that together form a single, expansive installation:
Feathers, sand, ceramics, kyanite, selenite, sodalite,
iron ore, blue quartz, iron, fabric, and glass beads
260m2
2025
SculptureCenter
Behind the visible lies something unseen in the behavior of the earth, which led me to reflect on how the mineral realm might be an amulet for itself. Feathers and knots are, respectively, the material and the gesture traditionally present in the making of amulets across many contexts.
In this exhibition, I focus on the existence of the amulet through gesture rather than through the object itself. Amulets are usually understood as small items carried in one’s pocket, but I seek to expand this perception, imagining the amulet as something that can encompass the whole, not just a detail. For me, what affirms the presence of an amulet is not its form, but the way it is made.
I turn my gaze to volcanic eruptions, moments when the earth ignites a feeling and shares this affection with the surface of the world. Magma rises in a vertical surge, yet at the same time it flows horizontally. When a volcano erupts, what it spills forth is the landscape itself.
I also reflect on the movement of earthquakes through the lens of Bantu philosophy, in which the idea of ascension, unlike in European logic, is not solely upward toward the sky but multidirectional. An earthquake is a moment when the earth ascends upward, outward, and, above all, downward - its most profound ascension being the act of burrowing deeper into the ground.
I observe, too, the dance between iron and nickel at the earth’s core, where
temperatures reach approximately 3000ºC, sustaining the planet’s central energy. The possibility of remaining in orbit exists in the tension between what is visible and invisible, tangible and sensed. From these potentialities inherent to the body of matter, I imagine places of protection where minerals can persist in the face of capitalism’s extractive dynamics.
Thus, the earth can become an amulet of itself, for itself.
The exhibition unfolds through eight smaller installations that together form a single, expansive installation:
- Equilibrium
- Earthquake
- Eruptions
- Thermometer 1 and 2
- Dance
- Vunji 1 and 2