If I Were the Soil, I Would Be Crying Now…
This sculptural fountain, presented on an intimate scale, reflects on the exploitation of natural resources and the violence inherent in humanity’s relationship with the Earth. The work comments on extractive activities: the relentless digging, drilling, and mining of minerals that fuel industry and technological development, while simultaneously causing environmental degradation and destabilising ecosystems.
The fountain is made of stoneware coated with glossy black glaze, its surface flecked with tiny red spots of paint. This colour palette evokes associations with both crude oil and suffering. The sculpture is visibly bent and deformed, as if under the pressure of forces that shape and wound it. Its form alludes to the image of the Earth buckling under the strain of continuous extraction.
The small scale of the piece is of particular significance. The climate catastrophe is an issue of enormous magnitude one we often struggle to fully imagine or feel. In this work, the theme is deliberately reduced to an intimate, modest object that can be observed closely and surrounded with attention. The miniature fountain becomes a defenceless being, a material testimony to suffering whose true extent usually escapes our perception.
The fountain was first presented during BAZAR BIZARRE vol. 3 | Soil and Water in Wrocław.
Title: If I Were the Soil, I Would Be Crying Now…
Year: 2025
Material: stoneware, glaze, paint, water, mechanical components (pump)
Technique: original sculptural technique
The fountain is made of stoneware coated with glossy black glaze, its surface flecked with tiny red spots of paint. This colour palette evokes associations with both crude oil and suffering. The sculpture is visibly bent and deformed, as if under the pressure of forces that shape and wound it. Its form alludes to the image of the Earth buckling under the strain of continuous extraction.
The small scale of the piece is of particular significance. The climate catastrophe is an issue of enormous magnitude one we often struggle to fully imagine or feel. In this work, the theme is deliberately reduced to an intimate, modest object that can be observed closely and surrounded with attention. The miniature fountain becomes a defenceless being, a material testimony to suffering whose true extent usually escapes our perception.
The fountain was first presented during BAZAR BIZARRE vol. 3 | Soil and Water in Wrocław.
Title: If I Were the Soil, I Would Be Crying Now…
Year: 2025
Material: stoneware, glaze, paint, water, mechanical components (pump)
Technique: original sculptural technique
The work rests on three short legs, recalling the symbolism of the colossus on clay feet: the monumental idea of power and growth that ultimately proves fragile and precarious. While a fountain is typically an object associated with life, renewal, and progress, here it becomes a vessel for a bitter reflection on the oppressiveness of our actions towards the planet and towards ourselves.
The trickles of water running down the curved walls of the fountain resemble tears or drops of oil. The work becomes a sombre commentary on the irreversible consequences of civilisation’s development at the expense of natural resources, of which we are part—both as perpetrators and as victims.
The sound the fountain produces is a blend of the natural murmur of flowing water and the quiet noise of the pump mechanism. This technical, almost mechanical tone reminds us of the entanglement and the human intervention in the environment through technology that drives the cycle of extraction.
The trickles of water running down the curved walls of the fountain resemble tears or drops of oil. The work becomes a sombre commentary on the irreversible consequences of civilisation’s development at the expense of natural resources, of which we are part—both as perpetrators and as victims.
The sound the fountain produces is a blend of the natural murmur of flowing water and the quiet noise of the pump mechanism. This technical, almost mechanical tone reminds us of the entanglement and the human intervention in the environment through technology that drives the cycle of extraction.
Photo: Małgorzata Kujda