FRAGILITY

Barbara Schwager
Switzerland

Fragile Moods
Moods come and go. They are subject to fluctuations and external influences. We cannot always control them in our favour—in other words, “just be happy.” Only we ourselves know how we feel—and often we have to present a different, socially acceptable version of ourselves to the outside world. We cannot simply live out our moods.

This brooch turns our inner feelings inside out. Recognizing and accepting our own changeability, even playing with it and perhaps engaging in a dialogue with those around us about our own true feelings.

Brooch « Fragile Moods », 2025
60x59x6 mm / 28 gr
Mild and stainless steel, Stone paper, polypropylene, Hematin, Poly n thread, copper, silver tubes
Sawing, filing, piercing, folding (copper, stone paper, polypropylene)

More « FRAGILITY »

Fragility – Carmen Lopez / Spain

FRAGILITYCarmen LopezSpainMy weak point is the spoon, my creative vulnerability. Sometimes I want to escape it, but it assaults my mind, invades my notebooks, my house: metal, wood, enamel, glass. With its docility, it doesn't force me to do anything—I am just an...

Fragility – Gloria Tormo / Spain

FRAGILITYGloria TormoSpainThere is not one fragility, but countless ones. Emotional fragility, health fragility, knowledge fragility, integrity fragility, etc. Suddenly, one day, we discover that everything we believe to be strong and stable crumbles or disappears,...

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 – 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 – Denis Music / Ukraine

FRAGILITYDenis MusicUkraineFragility is a state of tension — between strength and collapse, between freedom and threat, between life and its disappearance. My brooch Black Cloud was inspired by the installation of Ukrainian artist Oleksiy Sai, which rose above the...

Fragility – Alissa Goble / USA

FRAGILITYAlissa GobleUnited StatesObjects have a way of holding stories, carrying traces of memory, family, and identity. I’m drawn to the quiet power of the things we keep close and how they connect us to the past. Through crochet and metalsmithing, I use making as a...

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 – Alma Lion / Israel

FRAGILITYAlma LionIsraelThe brooch was created in October 2023 by joining an olive branch with metal. This union reveals a material tension between the cold, sharp metal and the tender, fragile olive branch. At the same time, it evokes a symbolic contrast — between...

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 – Deimezi Xenia / Greece

FRAGILITYDeimezi XeniaGreeceAt the heart of my work lies a philosophy that embraces the power of emotion as the catalyst for expression. My pieces are narratives, telling stories of the experiences that define us. The need for communication and understanding oneself...