I Am, Therefore I Am, 2024-2025 Sugar 60x60x170 cm

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I Am, Therefore I Am is conceived as an embodied act of being, inspired by the heart-opening posture of Matsyasana (Fish Pose). The sculpture becomes a revelation of the self, a physical manifestation of existence that navigates the space between autonomy and heteronomy, aesthetics and ethics, beauty and truth. It reflects on the essence of being while moving away from Descartes' famous statement "I think, therefore I am," which places thought as the foundation of existence. Instead, this work centers the idea that being itself is sufficient—beyond intellect or cognition. Here, existence is not defined by the mind but by the body.
The physical, embodied experience of being is highlighted as the most fundamental proof of life. The creation process of the sculpture was a meditative act, characterized by silence and devotion. For hours, the artist layed still as plaster formed a mold around her body. This moment of surrender and vulnerability is reflected in the final sculpture, in which her body, captured in a state of openness, has been cast in sugar. The act of creation is simultaneously an act of revealing oneself to the world and affirming one’s existence—an expression of resilience, endurance, and dedication.
The material of sugar holds special symbolic significance. It represents the essence of life, as glucose nourishes both body and mind. As a material, sugar becomes a metaphor for the delicate balance between the fragility of life and its ability to endure. The sugar in the sculpture demonstrates that our existence is both fragile and resilient—a paradox that embodies the idea that we are made of "nothing" and yet filled with "everything." During the process, when the plaster mold was removed, the empty space where the artist's body once was, served as a confrontation with the paradox of existence; This negative space, as a hollow, contains the mystery of our nature: we are simultaneously empty and full, vulnerable and resilient, absent and present.