As Above So Below

Isabelle Gaborit
Encaustic painting with pigment sticks and Indian ink on panel
Inspired by photo #2
8 x 8 x 1.5 inches
 
The piece was inspired by the haunting beauty of neurons—how they echo the vastness of the cosmos, resembling distant stars. I was deeply struck by the paradox within the research imagery: intricate, vibrant, and full of life, yet tied to something as devastating as ALS. This tension—the coexistence of beauty and destruction, fragility and severity—became the core of my exploration.

The raw wood was etched with delicate, trembling lines, drawn with my non-dominant hand to mirror the fragility of both the nervous system and the body’s decline. These marks, reminiscent of neurons and synapses, are veiled beneath layers of encaustic medium—wax that feels like skin, evoking the idea of things being only skin deep. Small pockets of gold are incised into the surface, shimmering like distant stars, reinforcing the connection between the vast universe and the intricate world within us.

'As above, so below'. Just as dying stars still shine in our night sky, the neurons in these images reflect a system in collapse. The great beyond mirrors the unseen battles within our bodies, and in both, death quietly weaves its web around us.