Shining DESPAIR
Selma Leal
Spain
Brooch “Lady Musgrave”, 2017
Silver, stainless seel
Lost wax
Brooch “Lady Musgrave”, 2010-25
Silver, gold, enamel, stainless seel
100x80x30mm
Lost wax, enameled
« The desperation of corals shines before our eyes through their bleaching, » making coral bleaching a vivid representation of Shining Despair. This phenomenon, where corals expel the symbiotic algae living within their tissues, reveals a skeletal white form that is starkly beautiful yet tragically indicative of their distress. The term « Shining Despair » perfectly captures this contradiction—the radiant, almost ghostly glow of the bleached coral is, in reality, a desperate cry for help, a final, brilliant display before death.