The Transformation cycle from the Transition TORSO.SHELLS series is a sculptural project composed of eight human torsos and thirty-eight shells made from a thin layer of epoxy resin reinforced with fiberglass.
The works form a multilayered narrative about the process of transformation - a movement between matter and void, between presence and absence, between the body and its imprint.
TORSO: the body in a state of transformation:
the central part of the cycle consists of eight torsos titled sequentially:
Transition 4.1.TORSO through Transition 4.8.TORSO.
Each is based on a cast of the artist’s own body, captured in a seated position - without the head and lower parts of the legs. This “cutting” of the form removes individual identity, leaving only a universal symbol of the body - an archetype of femininity, nudity, and existence.
The sculptures are made of transparent epoxy resin, tinted with a semi-translucent black pigment.
This material is crucial - its glass-like luminosity and deep, dark transparency create a metaphor for the tension between revelation and concealment, fragility and permanence.
Each torso contains an embedded steel cable passing through its back and shoulders, with its ends hanging toward the ground. These cables serve not only a structural function but also a symbolic one - evoking associations with suspenders, restraints, threads of fate, and the tension between the body and space.
The most essential element of the entire series is the movement of the hands. In each subsequent sculpture, the artist’s hands gradually rise upward in gestures that simultaneously reveal and conceal the breasts. This movement resembles film frames or stop-motion animation, suspended phases of a single gesture sequence. In the final torso, the hands rise vertically, as if in an act of purification, surrender, or transcendence.
The torsos are arranged in a circular formation, creating a kind of sculptural choreography: a spiral ritual of transformation, culminating in the final figure.
In this configuration, the installation becomes a meditative narrative of passage, a movement from closure to openness, from concealment to revelation, from matter to spirituality.
SHELLS: traces and remains of transformation:
complementing and completing the cycle are thirty-eight shells made of resin reinforced with fiberglass, formed as thin, semi-transparent structures resembling armor or shed skins.
Placed on the ground in a regular rhythm, they create a formation reminiscent of a terracotta army: a monumental field of bodies that are simultaneously present and absent.
Each shell is a remnant of the process: a negative, an imprint, an echo of the body. Where the torsos speak of energy, tension, and transformation, the shells become symbols of emptiness, shadow, and memory.
Their material, delicate yet rigid, carries a paradox: fragility and strength, lightness and durability.
Within the overall concept, they function as witnesses to transformation, “discarded skins,” traces of previous states of being. Their rhythmic placement on the ground constructs a spatial narrative of repetition and transience. They form a silent army of the past, accompanying newly emerging forms.
In the dialogue between torsos and shells, a tension arises: body versus surface, presence versus echo, life versus its imprint. This confrontation becomes a metaphor for transformation, the necessity of shedding a former form in order for a new one to emerge.
Conceptual Framework:
The project as a whole reflects on the body as a site of transformation and memory.
The torsos capture a moment suspended between movement and stillness, between intimacy and expression.
The shells, in turn, speak of what remains after the passage, of the lost surface, of emptiness that becomes the beginning of a new form.
In Transition TORSO.SHELLS, the female body ceases to be an object and becomes a tool of introspection and transformation. The artist uses her own body as a medium to explore identity, transience, and rebirth.
This is a project about process rather than final form, about seeking balance between control and surrender to material, between the physical and the spiritual.
It is a narrative of change that is both painful and purifying - a passage that leads to transformation.
