FRAGILITY
Keith Lewis
United States

The Saddest Aisle
Consider the Saddest Aisle, that mass of forlorn, abandoned baskets huddled together at the thrift store. In their puppy-eyed, earnest yearning they exude an almost hilarious melancholy.
And they long for a new home.
Before their exile- as they sat on a shelf or table- they absorbed the sloppy, hungry sounds of love, saw the startled, shocked silence of slapped children, heard recriminations and forgiveness, were buffeted by regret and hope, and felt moments of plenty and of want. They silently received and took into themselves everything that they were called upon to witness. They are the fragile vessels where memory persists.As a way of acknowledging whatever lives they might have seen, they deserve our attention and regard. They deserve redemption.
With my tongue only a little in my cheek I am trying to elevate and honor them in some sort of crafted apotheosis. Providing them with clouds and trumpets and putti to bear them aloft…..
towards the light.

Brooch « The Saddest Aisle #25 », 2020
90 x 90 x 22.5 mm / 70.3 gr
Electroformed copper thrift store basket,
fine silver plate, sterling silver, steel
Electroforming, fabrication, plating

Brooch « The Saddest Aisle #30 », 2024
140 x 85 x 20 mm / 122.3 gr
Electroformed copper thrift store basket, sterling silver, enamel, pearls, steel
Electroforming, fabrication, enameling, plating

More « FRAGILITY »

Fragility – Katerina Jirsova / Czech Republic

FRAGILITYKaterina JirsovaCzech RepublicThese necklaces continue my ongoing exploration of the dialogue between the body, the object, and the space we inhabit. Crafted from white chalk, they carry the qualities of softness, fragility, and impermanence – a material that...

Fragility – Beatrice Carlson / New Zealand

FRAGILITYBeatrice CarlsonNew ZealandHow do we refer to Fragility and how do we feel about it in our, somehow, judgemental, competitive society? Looking at synonyms, there is nothing positive about it: delicate, brittle, frail, weak, tenuous. Fragility is what some...

Fragility – Patricia Gallucci / Argentina

FRAGILITYPatricia GallucciArgentinaHow do we move forward; how do we leave fear, memories, untold, everyday anxieties, if we are made out of them, if we keep them under our skin, if they are also part of today? When body and mind are one. Light is darkness Dream,...

Fragility – Niyousha Moosavi / Germany

FRAGILITYNiyousha MoosaviGermanyI see jewelry as a transitional object that carries personal meaning and embodies emotional and psychological connections. This psychosomatic collection emerged from a personal experience, a time when my body began to swell for no...

Fragility – Julie Usel / Switzerland

FRAGILITYJulie UselSwitzerland This work explores fragility as both a material and emotional condition — a state where tension, delicacy, and resilience meet. Made of paper-thin silver elements, each piece is carefully sawn and sewn onto a silk background, allowing it...

Fragility – Anna Liu / USA

FRAGILITYAnna LiuUnited StatesIn a small city in Sichuan, China, nestled on the edge of the basin and surrounded by mountains, life unfolded among steep stairs and winding streets. The place once seemed ordinary, yet mornings filled with mist and distant peaks shaped...

Fragility – Danni Xu / USA

FRAGILITYDanni XuUnited StatesThis body of work emerges from a personal moment of reckoning—where fragility was not an abstract idea, but a lived, shifting condition I needed to face. These pieces trace the intimate terrain of vulnerability: the quiet, unstable edges...

Fragility – Cristina Celis / Mexico

FRAGILITYCristina CelisMexicoThe Last BreathFragility is the threshold where strength meets its limit, where existence reveals its most honest form.This work, made from weightless paper-thin ceramics, evokes a paradox: delicate yet tense, resilient yet on the verge of...

Fragility – Cindy Zhaohan Li / UK

FRAGILITYCindy Zhaohan-LiUnited KingdomGrowth Ribbon reflects on fragility as a generative state, where pain, transformation, and renewal coexist in the human body. I programmed the Tibetan Auspicious Ribbon Patterns into digital algorithms, transforming their...

Fragility – Noa Yankovitch / Israel

FRAGILITYNoa YankovitchIsraelMy work examines the tension between closeness and distance, the fragile space where connection and separation coexist. I'm interested in how intimacy changes shape when it’s tested: when presence becomes absence, when touch turns into...