Ikigai

Ikigai

Inspired by the Eastern philosophy that teaches that true purpose (ikigai) lies in the intersection of who we are, what we love, and what we contribute, this piece explores the subtle power of time and constancy. Like a stone whose surface is shaped, drop by drop, by rainwater, human beings are transformed: every action, every word, every thought—almost imperceptible at the time—slowly shapes our form.

In this work, the drop functions as a metaphor for minimal and repeated gestures; the stone as a symbol of our primary identity, robust but not immobile. With the passage of time, what seemed rigid becomes malleable; what seemed static, susceptible to change. Thus, there is no opposition between time and form: time becomes the sculptor, and our life becomes the material.

I invite the viewer to linger on the process rather than the product. To look not only at what the stone is, but at what it was and what it can become. To recognize the transformative power of small traces: a thought, a spoken word, a silent decision. In the silence of time, these traces add up and alter the contours of what we call "I."

This work is a reminder that being is not a final state, but rather a becoming shaped by the repetition of everyday life. And that finding our ikigai—that reason for being that drives us—may not be a great, lightning-fast change, but rather the cumulative effect of thousands of persistent drops.