'Mourner no. 2' (2022) somberly insinuates a figure sheltered beneath a cover. Pinhassi explores mourning as a site of metamorphosis, where emotional and physical states collapse into one another. Talons gripping to the base rock draw on the conventions of ancient funerary monuments where the deceased were transformed into horizontal effigies, their toes curling over a pillow or animal.

“To make the sculptures, I weld steel armatures after a lot of drawing and thinking. Then I cover them with chicken wire, then with some combination of polymer and burlap. After that, I start to slowly mix sand with polymer and burlap, working in thin layers in order to allow the sand to solidify. I found that if I pound dry sand on top of the mix when it’s only halfway dry, it creates this sandstone-like texture that appears to be crumbling, but in fact, it’s pretty sturdy.” Oren Pinhassi