Theme Library

Concept:

The figure alone, confronted with emptiness and the self.

Visual:

Single figure in vast space, minimal environment, ethereal light.

Philosophical:

What remains when all external identity is stripped away?

Concept:

Two or more figures in relationship — touching, supporting, witnessing.

Visual:

Paired or grouped figures, subtle physical contact, shared light.

Philosophical:

How do we connect authentically without the masks of identity?

Concept:

The figure under the gaze — observed, witnessed, exposed.

Visual:

Figure with eyes, lights, or architectural elements suggesting observation.

Philosophical:

What happens to presence when it is constantly observed?

Concept:

The limits of language, what cannot be said, the power of absence.

Visual:

Figures separated by barriers, thresholds, or distance; mouths closed or absent.

Philosophical:

What truths exist beyond language?

Concept:

The figure in transition — becoming, dissolving, transcending.

Visual:

Figures fragmenting, merging with light, losing definition.

Philosophical:

What persists when form dissolves?

Concept:

Figures as archetypal symbols emerging from collective memory.

Visual:

Multiple identical figures, ritualistic arrangements, dreamlike compositions.

Philosophical:

What universal patterns underlie human experience?

Concept:

Figures exist outside time — past, present, future collapsed.

Visual:

Multiple versions of the same figure at different scales or states; ghostly overlays.

Philosophical:

How does time shape identity? What if it didn't?

Concept:

Figures without senses, yet intensely present and aware.

Visual:

Faceless faces, bodies responding to invisible stimuli, heightened luminescence.

Philosophical:

Does removing sensory input intensify presence?

Concept:

The figure as data made flesh — the body as information.

Visual:

Porcelain figures with digital artifacts, glitching, pixelation, code-like patterns.

Philosophical:

What is the difference between a digital and physical body?

Concept:

Groups of figures in states of shared vulnerability — naked, exposed, interdependent.

Visual:

Multiple figures in intimate proximity, physical vulnerability, shared fragility.

Philosophical:

Is vulnerability the only authentic human experience?

Concept:

The figure defined by what is missing — negative space as form.

Visual:

Voids in the shape of figures, empty spaces suggesting presence.

Philosophical:

Can absence be more powerful than presence?

Concept:

Figures engaged in ritualistic or ceremonial acts without obvious purpose.

Visual:

Figures in repeated poses, formal arrangements, ceremonial gestures.

Philosophical:

What rituals structure our lives? What happens when ritual becomes meaningless?

Concept:

Figures in states of coercion, control, or loss of bodily autonomy.

Visual:

Figures bound, constrained, or in positions of submission; architectural coercion.

Philosophical:

Who controls the body? What is the relationship between freedom and form?

Concept:

Figures in states of decomposition, mortality, or transition to non-being.

Visual:

Figures fragmenting, eroding, becoming dust or light; the boundary between life and death.

Philosophical:

What is the relationship between presence and mortality?

Concept:

Figures experiencing or witnessing violation — physical, psychological, social.

Visual:

Figures in distress, fragmented, or in states of violation; broken symmetry.

Philosophical:

What does violation reveal about identity and vulnerability?

Concept:

Figures as objects of desire, consumption, or commodification.

Visual:

Figures in positions of display, surrounded by indicators of value or consumption.

Philosophical:

How does desire shape identity? What happens when the body becomes commodity?

Concept:

Figures experiencing psychological fragmentation, dissociation, or altered states.

Visual:

Figures fragmenting, multiplying, distorting; loss of coherence.

Philosophical:

What is the relationship between identity and mind?

Concept:

Figures as witnesses or participants in systems of harm.

Visual:

Figures in hierarchical arrangements, some elevated and others diminished; power systems.

Philosophical:

What is our responsibility in systems that harm others?

Concept:

Figures being erased from history, memory, or existence.

Visual:

Figures fading, dissolving, becoming invisible; absence of traces.

Philosophical:

What happens to those who are forgotten? Can erasure be resisted?

Concept:

The figure as artificial being — created, programmed, simulated.

Visual:

Porcelain figures with indicators of artificiality; the uncanny valley.

Philosophical:

What is the difference between artificial and authentic? Can the artificial be authentic?

Concept:

Multiple figures merging into a single organism or entity.

Visual:

Figures fused, boundaries dissolving, collective consciousness.

Philosophical:

What happens to individuality when bodies merge?

Concept:

Figures in active resistance against erasure, control, or invisibility.

Visual:

Figures in positions of strength, defiance, or active resistance; luminescence as rebellion.

Philosophical:

How do we resist systems designed to erase us?

Concept:

Figures transcending physical form, ascending beyond the body.

Visual:

Figures dissolving into light, ascending, transforming into something beyond the physical.

Philosophical:

Is transcendence possible? What lies beyond the body?

Concept:

Figures in intimate relationship with emptiness, nothingness, or the void.

Visual:

Figures embracing darkness, merging with void, finding solace in absence.

Philosophical:

Can emptiness be a form of presence? Is nothingness a destination?

Concept:

A figure encounters its own replica or doppelgänger — the horror and fascination of perfect duplication.

Visual:

Two identical faceless figures facing each other, slight variations suggesting copy/original.

Philosophical:

What is identity when perfect duplication is possible? Does the copy have less reality than the original?

Concept:

A single figure exists in multiple temporal states simultaneously — past, present, future overlaid.

Visual:

Translucent layers of the same figure at different ages/states, all occupying the same space.

Philosophical:

Is time linear or simultaneous? Can we exist in all moments at once?

Concept:

A figure entirely defined by absence — the void takes the shape of a body.

Visual:

Empty space in the shape of a figure, surrounded by luminescence that defines the absence.

Philosophical:

Can absence be more real than presence? What does it mean to be defined by what we lack?

Concept:

Porcelain figure fused with non-human elements — architecture, nature, technology.

Visual:

Figure fused with geometric forms, organic growth, or technological elements; hybrid being.

Philosophical:

What happens when human and non-human merge? Are boundaries between categories real?

Concept:

A figure observes itself, creating a recursive loop of observation and consciousness.

Visual:

Figure gazing at mirror/reflection/projection of itself; multiple gazes converging.

Philosophical:

What happens when consciousness observes itself? Is self-perception a form of doubling?

Concept:

A figure intentionally broken or fragmented, revealing beauty in the breaking.

Visual:

Figure shattered but held together by light or invisible force; cracks reveal luminescence.

Philosophical:

Is wholeness necessary for beauty? Can fragmentation be more beautiful than unity?

Concept:

Making the truly invisible visible — emotions, thoughts, energy, presence itself as visible form.

Visual:

Figure surrounded by visible manifestations of invisible forces; light as thought/emotion.

Philosophical:

Can the invisible be made visible? What is the relationship between visibility and reality?

Concept:

A figure contains infinite versions of itself — Russian-doll effect taken to the conceptual.

Visual:

Figure with smaller versions visible inside/through it, expanding infinitely inward.

Philosophical:

Is there a limit to self-reference? What is the nature of infinite recursion?

Concept:

A figure exists in the liminal space between two states — neither solid nor liquid, neither alive nor dead.

Visual:

Figure partially translucent, partially solid; boundaries between states visible and unstable.

Philosophical:

What defines a state? Can something exist between categories?

Concept:

Senses inverted — the figure "sees" with touch, "hears" with sight, etc.

Visual:

Figure with sensory organs in unexpected places; light flows in unusual directions.

Philosophical:

How much of our reality is constructed by our sensory apparatus?

Concept:

Exploration of the experience of touch — texture, temperature, pressure — as primary reality.

Visual:

Figure with emphasized tactile surfaces; light suggests temperature variations.

Philosophical:

Is touch more fundamental than sight? What does touch reveal about existence?

Concept:

The rhythm of breathing as the fundamental rhythm of existence.

Visual:

Figure with visible breath, luminescence pulsing with breathing rhythm.

Philosophical:

Is breath the essence of life? What does breathing reveal about consciousness?

Concept:

Complete silence as a form of presence and power.

Visual:

Figure in absolute stillness, surrounded by empty space; power in immobility.

Philosophical:

Is silence absence or presence? What is the power of non-action?

Concept:

The experience of physical weight and gravity as fundamental to embodied existence.

Visual:

Figure heavily weighted, pressing into the ground; luminescence suggests burden.

Philosophical:

How does weight shape our experience of being? What is the burden of existence?

Concept:

The relationship of the figure to the space it occupies — how space shapes presence.

Visual:

Figure defined by the space around it; negative space as active element.

Philosophical:

Does space shape the figure or does the figure shape space?

Concept:

A figure embodies logical contradiction — being and non-being simultaneously.

Visual:

Figure that appears to violate physical laws; impossible geometry made possible.

Philosophical:

Can contradictions be real? What lies beyond logical consistency?

Concept:

A figure at the point where meaning emerges from meaninglessness.

Visual:

Figure surrounded by chaotic elements resolving into order; emergence of pattern.

Philosophical:

How does meaning arise? Is meaning discovered or created?

Concept:

A figure defined by what is no longer there — the echo of a vanished presence.

Visual:

Figure surrounded by traces, shadows, or echoes of other figures no longer visible.

Philosophical:

Can absence be more present than presence? What is the reality of memory?

Concept:

A single moment stretched to infinity — the eternal now.

Visual:

Figure frozen in a moment that extends infinitely in all directions.

Philosophical:

Is time an illusion? Can a moment contain infinity?

Concept:

The figure as observer of the void, but the void observes back — mutual gaze with nothingness.

Visual:

Figure confronting void, but void has a presence and a gaze.

Philosophical:

Is the void conscious? What happens when we are observed by nothingness?

Concept:

Sound represented as visible form — the figure as embodied music.

Visual:

Figure with visible sound waves, luminescence following musical patterns.

Philosophical:

What is the relationship between sound and form? Can sound have form?

Concept:

Light represented as audible — the figure surrounded by visible vibrations of sound.

Visual:

Light patterns suggesting sound waves; figure as source of visible resonance.

Philosophical:

Are light and sound fundamentally similar? Can we perceive across sensory boundaries?

Concept:

The figure as something that can be tasted — form as flavor.

Visual:

Figure with qualities suggesting taste — sweetness, bitterness, saltiness visually represented.

Philosophical:

Can abstract concepts be tasted? What is the flavor of existence?

Concept:

The figure surrounded by visible manifestations of scent and smell.

Visual:

Figure with aromatic qualities made visible; scent as visible emanation.

Philosophical:

How much of our experience is olfactory? What does presence smell like?

Concept:

Emotions represented as visible texture on the surface of the figure.

Visual:

Figure with surface texture that changes based on emotional state; emotion as tactile quality.

Philosophical:

Do emotions have texture? Can we feel emotions on the skin?

Concept:

A figure repeating the same action infinitely — Sisyphean existence made visible.

Visual:

Multiple versions of the figure in the same pose, suggesting infinite repetition.

Philosophical:

Does repetition create meaning or destroy it? What is the value of eternal return?

Concept:

A figure in the exact moment of transformation — caught between states.

Visual:

Figure mid-transformation, boundaries unstable, in-between state emphasized.

Philosophical:

Is becoming more real than being? What is the nature of change?

Concept:

A figure with visible layers of past selves — history written on the body.

Visual:

Figure with translucent layers showing earlier versions; past visible through present.

Philosophical:

Are we the sum of our past selves? How much of the past remains in the present?

Concept:

A figure that somehow contains or suggests its own future.

Visual:

Figure with ghostly future versions visible; trajectory of becoming visible.

Philosophical:

Is the future already present? Can we know our own becoming?

Concept:

A figure at the point of return to its origin — the circle closes.

Visual:

Figure with visual elements suggesting cyclical movement; origin and destination merge.

Philosophical:

Do cycles truly repeat? Can we return to where we began?

Concept:

Two figures in complete vulnerability to each other — exposed, defenseless, mutually dependent.

Visual:

Two figures without barriers, open to each other; vulnerability as connection.

Philosophical:

Is vulnerability the only authentic form of connection?

Concept:

Two figures with unequal power in their mutual observation — one sees, one is seen.

Visual:

One figure gazing, the other receiving gaze; power imbalance visible.

Philosophical:

Can gazes ever be equal? What is the ethics of observation?

Concept:

Two figures attempting to communicate across an unbridgeable gap.

Visual:

Figures separated by barrier, light attempting to bridge the gap.

Philosophical:

Can we truly communicate? What is lost in translation between beings?

Concept:

Two figures mirror each other perfectly — identity through reflection.

Visual:

Two figures in perfect symmetry; one as mirror of the other.

Philosophical:

Is identity created through mirroring? What is an original vs. a reflection?

Concept:

Two figures so intertwined they cannot be separated — physical and existential entanglement.

Visual:

Figures with completely blurred boundaries; impossible to distinguish where one ends.

Philosophical:

Can two beings become one while remaining two? What is the nature of entanglement?