In this visual study, I explore the boundary between the artificial and the organic, questioning what appears more lifelike: a meticulously crafted wax figure or a living plant in a pot.
The photograph becomes a stage for quiet contradictions — between stillness and growth, simulation and vitality, permanence and decay. Faces shaped from wax may appear expressive, even “alive,” while the plant, ever-growing and reaching for light, remains rooted and silent. Which one feels more real? Which one will stay with us longer?
In this image, I confront the idea of hypocrisy — how appearances can deceive, how life imitates art and vice versa. I ask myself: Can I truly tell the fake from the real? And more importantly, what truly endures in our perception and memory?
To deepen this inquiry, I layered the composition with textures: a piece of soft fabric, natural leather, and synthetic faux leather. These elements form a tactile dialogue — a subtle interplay of materials that seem familiar, yet resist clear categorization. The tension between the authentic and the imitation unfolds not only visually, but conceptually, as a metaphor for the blurred thresholds we face in both art and life.
Ultimately, “Wax and Plant” is a meditation on the fragile certainty of perception, and the invisible threads that bind the genuine and the constructed in ways we rarely notice — but always feel.
MARIA MIR 