There is a large formation of stone near the shoreline by my home, a place where I would go to escape the world, and to try remember myself within it. On that rock, something ancient in me re-aligned. I stopped surviving. I returned. This artwork carries that moment.
At its centre rests something extraordinary a mermaid dollar. Rare. I found it one afternoon walking toward the rock, not knowing what it was, only knowing it felt significant. Later I discovered how uncommon they are, a natural anomaly, formed by oceanic forces and time. To find a mermaid dollar, an almost celestial variation, it felt like a message.
I am a minimalist by nature. I do not keep objects without purpose. I do not collect excess. I only keep what holds meaning. And I knew immediately I could not let it go, yet I also knew it could not simply sit as “a thing.” So I did what I always do with the sacred. I made art.
I began without a plan. The form emerged intuitively, and slowly shaped itself into a five-point star. Which also holds great relevance to me as it resembles a pentagram. An ancient symbol of balance between the elements, earth, water, fire, air, and spirit. A symbol often misunderstood, yet deeply protective and harmonising in its original meaning. It was not deliberate. It was revealed.
Surrounding the centre are abalone shells and ocean fragments gathered respectfully from the shoreline. The abalone spiral follows the Fibonacci sequence, the mathematical progression woven throughout the universe. Galaxies expand in it. Flowers bloom by it. Hurricanes turn in it. It is the architecture of growth itself. The Fibonacci spiral teaches one thing clearly, expansion is natural law.
The additional shells embedded throughout the piece are offerings back to the earth, acknowledgements of the lives they once held. Each shell was formed patiently by a living being. Each one is proof of creation under pressure. They are monuments of quiet labour and protection.
The shimmer within this work is not synthetic. I crushed broken fragments of mother of pearl remnants already separated from their original form, and returned them as light. Natural glitter. Ocean dust. A final act of reverence.
Nothing was taken without gratitude. Nothing was used without honour.
The mermaid dollar at its centre reminds me, what is rare finds you when you are ready. What is meant for you cannot be overlooked. What forms under pressure becomes sacred. On that rock, I remembered who I am, and the earth witnessed it.
Emily Jane
