ATHERIS

Atheris takes its name from Atheris squamigera, the African bush viper. The work does not reproduce the species literally. It translates its visual presence through a dark green surface, pronounced scale-like relief and bronze-gold reflections that shift with the light.

The mask emerges between dried palm forms and clustered seeds. Their brittle, straw-coloured structure surrounds a face that remains tense and alert. The open mouth and exposed fangs turn the composition into a threshold between concealment and warning.

The face becomes an intermediary form: human in origin, serpentine in appearance and fixed as an object. Makeup leaves the duration of the body and becomes a lasting sculptural gesture, while living colour persists inside a landscape marked by dryness.