LIGHTNESS OF BEING

Bronze, 2023
W x L x H
5 x 6 x 16 1/2 inches
Limited Edition of 10
Laura Teste

LIGHTNESS OF BEING was inspired by the 1988 film adaptation of Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I tried to capture the odd combination of existentialism and beauty in this floating figure.

The lines of the figure curve and spiral through the spine, arms, hair, and fabric. – Though gravity is a confused sea with the falling hair from a body drifting up.

In my poem, I draw on the feelings of personal freedom that this sculpture kindles. Probably more optimism than Kundera could ever stomach.

LIGHTNESS OF BEING

Hand off the judgement.
Brush off the pains.
You laugh and you’re loose
Of gravity’s reins.
The lightness of being
After losses and gains
Holds a new point of view,
And brilliance breaks through.

Unweight the heart
By what might have been.
Aloft and riding
The updraft‘s spin.
You play the slow game but
still play to win.
Love never runs smooth yet true,
And brilliance breaks through.

So, become breathtaking
Give up the ground.
Unbend your lungs and
exhale your sound.
Candor unfurls
that fog wrapped around
the strange and majestic you,
And brilliance breaks through.