Thalassa -the 8th piece from my „Recycled Souls” series.
Thalassa emerges as an imagined guardian figure—one who carries within herself the echoes of ancient oceans, extinct life forms, and the cycles of transformation that shape both nature and humanity. The sculpture invites viewers to contemplate deep time, environmental connection, and the enduring presence of the past within the natural world and within ourselves.
In Greek mythology, Thalassa is the primordial spirit and personification of the sea -the ancient waters that existed long before humankind and from which all life emerged. Inspired by this archetype, the sculpture Thalassa embodies the memory of the oceans, the passage of time, and the profound connection between humanity and nature.
Created primarily from paper-mache, recycled paper, cardboard, and dried plants, the sculpture incorporates shells, driftwood, botanical forms, and an ammonite spiral. These elements evoke traces of ancient marine worlds and the enduring marks left by time. The ammonite, in particular, serves as a symbol of deep geological time, evolution, and the continuity of life across millions of years.
The human figure gradually merges with natural forms, suggesting that we are not separate from nature but rather a part of its ongoing story. Coral-like structures, star-shaped botanical elements, shells, and dried plants appear to grow from the body, as if memories of vanished seas and forgotten ecosystems have become embedded within it.
Rather than portraying the sea as a physical landscape, Thalassa presents it as a living archive of memory. Here, the sea becomes a metaphor for time itself. Like water, time is constantly moving, shaping, eroding, preserving, and transforming everything it touches. Shells grow in layers, coral reefs develop over centuries, and ancient marine life leaves its imprint in stone. In this sense, the sea is time made visible.