Beltane Oracle

Bianca Bondi’s Beltane Oracle (2022 – 2023) celebrates nature, rebirth, and fertility, drawing on esoteric traditions such as the European maypole. A series of five poles in burnt wood stand connected, surrounded by sand and thirteen ceramic bowls that are spread across the ground.

A series of holy water ponds, customarily used for foretelling the future, are placed like lunar craters in the landscape; each containing a magical potion. Quartz crystals, which have been cleansed by flames and the tears of a firstborn daughter, illuminate the extremities of the poles.

Facing this installation is Tidal Spill, a tapestry that re-creates the ocean’s floor. Alongside textiles are stabilized flowers – whose blossoms have been preserved, recalling the limbo state between life and death – as well as candles and a copper bowl containing salt water, which naturally evaporates over time. Using materials that evolve and live throughout the exhibition, Bianca Bondi presents liminal spaces, where light replaces fire, and energy takes the place of humans.

Tidal Spill, 2023 ©Bianca Bondi
Beltane Oracle, 2022-2023 ©Bianca Bondi
Commissioned by RCRC and Riyadh Art