I borrowed the figures in this piece from a picture book of the Louvre. A small act of theft from an institution built, in many ways, on centuries of collecting, taking, and reframing objects from elsewhere. I liked the humour in that. Stealing from the stealer. Recontextualizing something already preserved and monumental into something playful, personal, and alive again.
The title, Syzygy, comes partly from Jung, who used the term to describe paired archetypal opposites, the meeting of inner forces, conscious and unconscious selves, masculine and feminine energies. (I think fire/water vibes) Scientifically, syzygy refers to a rare alignment of celestial bodies. I was interested in both meanings: alignment as psychological experience and alignment as cosmic event.
This piece feels like a choreography of alignment.
Three female figures dance across the image alongside three moon-like forms or portals. I keep thinking about the rule of threes — how naturally the number creates rhythm, movement, and stability all at once. Three points create structure. A triangle holds itself up. There is balance in threes, but also motion. The figures are not static even though they originate from stone sculptures. They become acrobatic, animated, almost celebratory here.
I started noticing star-like formations appearing between their bodies and gestures. Invisible geometry emerging through movement. (Do you see it them too?) The figures seem connected to one another through shape, repetition, and orbit, almost like celestial bodies themselves.
The work makes me think of The Three Graces, but also the Three of Cups in tarot, friendship, celebration, shared joy, feminine connection, collective support. There is a communal energy in the piece that feels important to me. Something I can always go back to. A reminder that healing, meaning-making, and transformation are rarely solitary acts. We move in relation to one another. We dance around one another. We become mirrors, witnesses, collaborators.
There is also tension (maybe?) between permanence and movement here. The women originate from carved stone, something fixed and historical, yet within the piece they seem alive. They dance beneath moons or portals, (or a secret third thing) suspended somewhere between mythology and play. Between ancient symbolism and contemporary collage.
At times I wonder if the piece is about alignment itself, those rare moments when different versions of the self, or different people, or different timelines seem to briefly click into place. (Not perfectly.) Not permanently. But enough to create a moment of harmony.
Mostly, though, this piece feels cheerful (to me.) Lighthearted, even in its complexity. A small celebration of movement, symbolism, and inter-con-nec-ted-ness. Three figures dancing through space together, creating structure simply by existing in relation to one another.