Shining DESPAIR
Eliane-Catrie Blouin Achim
Canada

Bracelet “Shadows of compassion”, 2024
Bronze, liquid enamel, 90 mm diameter, 20 mm width, 13 mm thickness
Wax carving and lost wax casting
Photo : RL Black

Brooch “Sparkling sorrow”, 2024
Bronze, resin, pigments, 65 mm diameter, 25 mm thickness
Wax carving and lost wax casting, riveting
Photo : R.L. Black

« Rose Cochon »

With the Rose Cochon series, Éliane-Catrie Blouin Achim expresses a profound sense of despair by addressing the issue of animal ethics through works where beauty and discomfort coexist in tension. In her bronze jewelry-sculptures, clusters of pigs and calves are frozen into indistinct masses, suggesting the loss of individual identity.

Pink, traditionally associated with innocence, takes on an ironic tone here, transforming softness into a quiet, almost muted provocation. These works, both alluring and unsettling, evoke contradictory feelings that invite self-reflection. By exploiting this paradox between attraction and aversion, the artist sheds light on our blindness and complacency toward animal suffering. These pieces thus transcend mere adornments; they reflect our inner contradictions and invite us to question our relationship with all living beings.

More « Shining DESPAIR »

Shining Despair – Yichen Dong & Stacey Huang / China

Many spend their lives chasing ‘key moments,’ …

Shining Despair – Anna Talbot / Norway

The series ‘Pressed Flowers’ is inspired by my memories of my grandfather’s garden from my childhood.

Shining Despair – Rikke Lunnemann / Denmark

‘It is clear to all of us that the degree of the current chaos in the world is caused by our own actions….‘

Shining Despair – Elvira Cibotti / Argentina

I don’t always find the energy to overcome sadness or worry.

Shining Despair – Juan Harnie / Belgium

As a child, I would watch my mother patch up worn garments …

Shining Despair – Jeannette Knigge / Netherlands

Looking at the world from behind your curtains, untouchable yet vulnerable.

Shining Despair – Aimee Howard-Clinger / USA

The western world can be defined by the adage ‘knowledge is power’.

Shining Despair – Susan Buchanan / Australia

The Earth flexes its muscle, the applied concrete ‘urban skin’ breaks open and a microcosm of life is created in the cracks in the pavement.

Shining Despair – Donald Friedlich / USA

For most of us despair comes and goes.

Shining Despair – Marta Alonso / Spain

Mayfly, an ephemeral flight and Glimpse the universe …