Nel riflesso di una roccia lontana
Una Boccata d’Arte 2025
Ollomont (AO), Valle d’Aosta
Curated by Elena Graglia
Nel riflesso di una roccia lontana is a project that takes shape from a simple and respectful gesture: the hand-harvesting of dried lichens in the woods of Ollomont, in Valle d'Aosta. Here, in the silence of the woods and mountains, a creative process of listening, attention and transformation begins.
Ollomont is a place marked by time. Its copper mines, active until 1945, have left a deep mark on the landscape and the memory of the village. The old mine shafts, now abandoned, still preserve the reflection of copper in the rocks: a discreet glow that seems to point a way.
At the centre of the work is the lichen: a resistant organism, capable of growing where other plants cannot. Immersed in operculum wax, a natural ethereal wax produced by local beekeepers, it is transformed into a sort of ‘botanical skeleton’, giving life to a light sculpture, similar to a natural lace. The artist’s desire was to create a work as sincere as possible, and to be guided in every step by the movements of the material, creating a process of continuous exchange with the natural world.
Cast in bronze, the work retains a rough surface. The copper, in contact with air, rain and sun, changes colour over time, recalling the shades of dried lichen. The sculpture lives in the open air, transforming with the light, with the seasons, with the gaze of the observer.
Hetty Laycock presents a work that does not impose itself but accompanies. An invitation to slow down, to listen to material, to find in the small natural elements – lichens, wax, metal – a deep connection with the landscape and with the time that passes through us.
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Artwork: Continuum, 2025, copper, lost-wax casting, 100 x 100 x 100 cm
Exhibited at: Strada Comunale, Loc. Le Croux, 11010 Ollomont (AO)