This artwork presents a figure gilded in copper, a material historically associated with healing and renewal. The gilding covers a 3D-printed model of a peasant woman in traditional dress, emphasizing the tension between old-world craftsmanship and modern technological reproduction. The figure, depicted from the back, represents a symbolic departure from rural life, as if she is walking away from her past. By turning her back on the viewer, the woman embodies a transitional moment, both personal and cultural, where heritage and modernity meet yet do not fully reconcile.
The figure is encased in glass, as if preserved for future generations to study—a metaphorical gesture that suggests she has become an artifact, a relic of a disappearing way of life. This preservation under glass implies the woman’s transformation into an object of anthropological interest, frozen in time for academic or scientific examination. In this way, the artwork reflects on themes of memory, loss, and cultural preservation, highlighting how traditional identities are being recontextualized in an increasingly modernized world. The juxtaposition of the handcrafted and the digital reinforces the tension between past and future, as well as the complex dynamics of cultural evolution.
