“FROM ASHES TO GOLD”
AURUM URENS is an ongoing body of work by Italian multidisciplinary artist Michele Ardu.
The project begins in landscapes scarred by wildfire.
Ardu personally recovers the remains of burned trees and transforms them into sculptures in which black carbon and 24-carat gold coexist on the same surface.
The gold neither conceals the violence of fire nor restores what has been lost. It draws attention to the value of what has disappeared, while the charred surface remains visible as physical evidence of the destruction.
Each sculpture preserves the scars and memory of the tree from which it comes, bearing witness to the fragility, value and enduring dignity of nature.
This gold, in stark contrast to the charred surfaces, becomes a powerful metaphor for destruction and rebirth.
