Four ‘Award statues’ for Mirage Film Festival, Oslo October 2024.

Four sculptures of seeds from so-called weeds, carved in white alabaster from Zaragoza in Spain: Melancholy Thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum), Creeping Yellow-cress (Rorippa sylvestris), Winter-cress (Barbarea vulgaris) and Small Mallow (Malva pusilla).

What you see is not always what you think. And what you think is not always what you see. As a metaphor for the MIRAGE Award Statues, I have chosen four seeds from so-called weeds. That is, plants which we normally want to get rid of, but which are inhabited by an extraordinary vitality, and when studied more closely also reveal their beauty. This is especially true concerning their seeds. To the naked eye the seeds may look like small, more or less round dots. Sometimes they are mere dust, but seen through a magnifying glass the most magic shapes emerge.

The four seeds I have chosen, are the seeds of Melancholy Thistle, Creeping Yellow-cress, Winter-cress and Small Mallow – picked precisely for their beauty and for their vital persistence. I have carved them in white alabaster. Because of their size, the seeds can be held and weighed in the hand. Sanded and polished the stone feels like cool silk.

Alabaster is valued as a most precious stone, used only for special occasions. The Etruscans in Italian Antiquity (700–300 B.C.) created some of their most refined grave memorials in alabaster. The woman who anointed the feet of Jesus with costly spikenard – after having washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair – carried (according to the Gospel of Luke) the ointment in an alabaster jar.

The exquisite quality of the alabaster is due to its translucence. If the stone is not too dense, the light is softly filtered through it. Alabaster has therefore been applied as window glass for mausoleums, churches and mosques. It has likewise been made into lampshades. The new National Museum in Norway was originally planned with an alabaster ceiling. However, unless alabaster is protected from direct contact with UV rays, it will gradually perish.

The importance of seeds and their potential is existential and absolute. Without plants seeding, mankind will simply not survive. Nor will it survive without art and culture, for which MIRAGE is an outstanding exponent.