Malgré Tout

Malgré Tout is a series of sculptures inspired by a composition of the same name by the Mexican composer Manuel M Ponce. What makes this piece particularly noteworthy is that it is written for left-hand piano and was itself inspired by the plight of sculptor Jesús Fructuoso Contreras, who lost his right hand battling cancer, and received, with his sculpture Malgré Tout, the first prize in sculpture of the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1900.

This series of sculptures captures the brittleness of the human body and its ability, even while vulnerable, to produce art. 

Through fractures, cracks and marks of destruction, the hands in this collection show the material fragility of the human subject, but also its creative power. The hands I present are wounded, but these wounds are not a defect but an expression of the human condition. The gestures I depict here, inspired in part by the art of Michelangelo highlight the creative will and what limits it; the touch of man, who intending to come into contact with divinity, cannot quite reach it.

The series consists of four natural-length arms and five hands.

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The series shall be presented in September 2025 at the Maison du Mexique in Paris with a performance of the piano piece by Manuel M Ponce interpreted by Ian Charles Lepine

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Photography by Nika Emily Cimpeanu