Arts Thread

My work begins with a memory of my grandmother. She used to carry roses. She also worked the land, like many women in Moldova. The soil there is rich and black, yet women were always dressed in white clothes. That contrast stayed with me: between labour and softness, between what is visible and what is carried in silence. My graduation work, The Story of a Woman Who Carries Roses, is a tribute to her and to the many women whose work remains unseen. Their lives often resemble romantic fairy tales from afar, but feel heavy when looked at closely. The pieces I created are light, delicate, and white in colour, yet the material speaks of weight, repetition, and resilience. Through sculptural forms, I explore the tension between fragility and endurance, between how women are expected to appear, pure and gentle, and what they actually carry inside. Each piece tells part of this story: the vase captures daily gestures that form a rhythm; the corset reveals emotional and physical weight; the mask questions the expectation of silence and purity; and the vase-purse leaves the narrative open to transformation. I try to reflect on how women shape the land and how the land, in turn, shapes them. Over time, they become something in between: not just human, not only nature, but part of both. My pieces speak softly of strength. They offer a rose to carry, a story to hold, and a question that quietly remains.