The mystery of light reaching us from the far end of the universe has been inspiring my work since many years. Could light carry consciousness coming from other dimensions?
The “homos luminosos” evoke both past and future ethereal presence. They suggest the presence of disembodied life, the presence of life despite the absence of physicality. “Can we imagine absence without feeling presence first?” Is there such a thing as pure presence, a presence that has always been there before all existence? Or is there a metaphysical “lack”, a fundamental emptiness since the origin, an absence of presence. In other words what came first presence or absence? Philosopher Derrida who reflected in depth on this question came up with the concept of “traces”: “marks of the absence of a presence, an always-already absent present”.
Maybe the “homos luminosos” are made of traces? They invite us to reflect on the past and the traces of presence or absence left by humans once they abandon their physicality, as well as on the future of human kind at the dawn of the 21st century when technologies are about to shift us into a virtual disembodied trans-human experience.
This work has been featured in exhibitions, museums, festivals and art fairs around the world, including the Kinetica Museum London and the Museum of Quai Branly Paris in thematic exhibition Persona in 2016. Homos Luminosos are part of the collection of the Science Museum Dublin and have traveled Asia, Americas and Europe with the touring exhibition Illusion.
Explore the timeless dimensions of the "Homos Luminosos" family in the gallery below.
Homos Luminosos - Reflective Engraved Aluminium - Wall Pieces
"Over the palace of the god Indra a vast network of precious gems was hanging, so arranged that if you looked at one you saw all the others reflected in it." From the Avatamsaka Sutra
Threading crystal beads started my journey into the world of light. After an art residency in India in 1993 I started to use gemstones and crystals as art material. Light became both a medium and a subject of exploration, merging spiritual, philosophical and scientific mysteries.
Fascinated by the concept of the web of life and the net of the god Indra, a metaphor used to illustrate the interdependence and interpenetration of life in Buddhist philosophy, I created series of netted like objects combining crystals, gemstones and light.