Les Sommets de la Gloire (The Heights of Glory), 2019

Installation. Broken glass, dimensions variable

Les Sommets de la Gloire is a mountainous landscape assembled from fragments of broken glass, whose sharp edges are partially covered with gold leaf. The work emerges from a reflection on the moral suspicion surrounding ambition and success: the idea that elevation may be desirable, yet excessive, dangerous or achieved at the expense of others.

The installation is deliberately difficult to perceive. Transparent and reflective, it resists both the eye and the camera, appearing almost on the verge of disappearance. Its peaks are fragile, precious and hazardous at once. The gold catches the light only intermittently, while the broken glass turns ascent into a threatening terrain. Glory is therefore presented not as a stable achievement, but as something elusive, costly and difficult to approach without risk.

Installation view of Les Sommets de la Gloire at Fönstergalleriet, Kolonin, Arvika, 2019.

Details of Les Sommets de la Gloire, showing the sharp glass edges and the gold leaf applied along their cut surfaces.