Sculpture & Video

This piece is a plaster life cast of the artist’s hands cupping a wax candle, two materials combined together in this one sculpture. The left hand rests over the right in an eerie and ominous position with the fingers slightly splayed apart, giving the hands a very interesting shape and silhouette. Because of the position of the wrists, the hands go off to the left (from a head on view of the piece) revealing the back of the left hand more to the viewer, where the hand is speckled with small bumps, adding texture. The left pointer finger is also slightly pointy from the pad of the finger falling off. When the piece is fully assembled, the hands will be protruding out of a wall and the candle will keep dripping down onto the floor over time, having new candles replaced as they melt. 

This sculpture is addressing my own personal experiences with mental health, specifically the voices/parts of my head that try to sabotage my attempts to find the light in life and keep it burning along with people’s perception of this. One of the two hands, the ones with the pointed finger and more bumps is supposed to represent to the more evil half of my mind that, at times, seems to be all that is there, the only voice I can hear. The hand of this half is always reaching, trying to be the first to get to this flame, that is everything good that happens in my life, to destroy it all. But my other hand is reaching too, trying to protect myself and defend the joy that I know, deep down in my true self, I deserve. The candle is the light and good things I try to find, but it is ever changing, transforming into something new to the point I don’t even know what I am protecting and looking for. Once I install this piece, the hands will be coming out of a wall, almost a call for help, for someone to see what is happening in my mind if they are not able to hear me. Often I feel people misunderstand what is going on inside my head, and often I am not able to explain it in a way they understand, so I hope this will begin to visually illustrate this. The wax will also keep dripping to the floor, forming a permanent puddle of all my past dreams and “lights” in my life, that have come and gone and been let go, leaving way for something new to fight for. The candle will continue to burn exuding light into the dark world around it.