Wading For An Answer (Series: Voynich Manuscript)

Wading For An Answer (Series: Voynich Manuscript)

About the Voynich Manuscript Series:

I am inspired by the Voynich Manuscript, an unsolved mystery from the 15th century. This manuscript is written in an unknown script, but I am even more fascinated by its enigmatic artwork that is unlike anything in other medieval art.

I bring the manuscript’s drawings to life in three dimensions, using porcelain, flameworked glass, and illuminated plasma. Each sculpture reflects a meticulous process and attention to detail, capturing the idiosyncrasies of the Voynich Manuscript’s original artist. These strange plants, figures and structures that I sculpt are clearly recognizable from the manuscript’s pages, yet their meaning and context remains obscured - until one day when perhaps we are able to read the text. My sculptures embody this mystery, facilitating a dialogue between it and the modern viewer. 

About this sculpture:

I am particularly intrigued by the Voynich Manuscript's drawings of women, because of how enigmatic they are. This sculpture is modeled after the drawings of bathing women on folio 81r. The title is a wordplay between "wading" and "waiting" as a reference to the fact that the manuscript's text has not yet been deciphered, and there is yet no answer to the meaning of its imagery.

Materials:

Porcelain, glaze, gold luster, epoxy resin

2025
h 20 x b 45 x d 27 cm
Cary Rapaport

Cary Rapaport