This body of work was commissioned by Pier-2 Art Center for the exhibition Tsua: Contemporary Cave of Curiosity, 11/22/24-4/13/25.
I was invited to respond to the exhibition theme of interpreting snakes from different cultural perspectives. My works reflect on the role of the serpent in the story of the ‘fall of man’ from the Garden of Eden in Christianity and Judaism. In the sculptures, snake scales peak out from behind leaves and flowers, tempting viewers to look closer. Their heads are never visible, yet the potential for danger remains. Around the snakes, the flowers are dying and fading in color, representing the end of eternal paradise in the garden. The terrarium acts to freeze this moment of transformation in time, preserving the transition from life to death under glass domes like specimens in a museum.