Papillon (Butterfly)

Amethyst from Brazil, bronze.

I found this magnificent amethyst in the depths of the Rio Grande in 2021 after two days on laterite roads at the Brazilian-Argentina border. The miners let me enter the heart and center of their mine, which let me fulfil my childhood dream. I then sculpted these lianas and brought them to a Fonderie Fusion in Charbonnières-les-Vieilles, which cast the bronze.

In this piece of art, the vines are the support of the stone of spirituality. They come from the earth, because we need an anchor, but they are cut from it because it’s sometimes difficult for the spiritual to be anchored into reality. They support the stone but also go beyond it as well. They would like to pull it even higher.