Title: Mountain Earth Figurines
Commission for an installation in the display vitrines of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (Rijksoverheid Minbuza), The Hague 2026

Antoinette Nausikaä (1973)
Mountain Earth Figurines
Local Clay

For this commission, a selection from the series Mountain Earth Figurines was installed on pedestals in the vitrines of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The presentation brought together small, hand-formed sculptures made from clay collected on and around ancient mountains in Europe and Asia.

The figurines originate from the long-term project Breathing Mountains, developed over five years of working on sites such as Mount Fuji, Mount Olympus, Mount Ararat, and the Wǔyuè in China. Through climbing, observing, drawing, photographing, and digging for clay, I have translated the physical and symbolic presence of these mountains into 125 intimate sculptures.

Installed within a governmental setting, the works introduced a material reflection on balance, vulnerability, and the relationship between human scale and geological time.