by Vivien Holop
Artist’s Statement:
This sculpture explores containment as both protection and restraint.
The smooth, sealed body contrasts with anatomically rendered hands that grasp, brace, and hold the form in place. The purpose of these hands is to contrast care with desperation, the impulse to preserve something fragile while preventing its escape.
The vessel references the attempt at stabilization of impermanent life by echoing medical, religious, and archival traditions of the body. The work resists transparency and certainty by denying access to the interior, inviting discomfort around what is hidden, stored, or withheld.
My work asks the viewer whether containment is an act of care, control, or fear. To analyze whether something kept intact is truly protected, or simply postponing the inevitable.
Vivien Holop is a second-year medical student at UTCOMLS.
