UGOLINO, 2009

A contemporary reimagining of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s Ugolino and His Sons (1865–67), translated into the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

The original sculpture centers on imprisonment, starvation, inherited suffering, and the psychological weight of a father watching his children endure the consequences of forces larger than them.

For this version, I moved that tension into 2009: a once-successful father inside the suburban home bought at the height of his financial success, now surrounded by the signs of collapse. The sons retain the original sculptural composition, while the clothing, interior, and objects shift the work into the late-2000s American recession.

The chain remains as a symbol of confinement, but in this context it also reads as debt, foreclosure, and the inability to escape the system that once created his success.

The image was treated as a period editorial photograph rather than a literal sculpture remake, using 2000s fashion, set design, and magazine-style photography to preserve the emotional structure of the original while relocating its meaning. Link: https://app.flora.ai/join-project/6f88703e-091e-46dc-bfbd-384392ab1fb5