2025 Finalists

This icon of the Mother of God is painted on a 17th-century antique wooden board, whose aged and fractured surface becomes part of the work itself. The cracks and irregularities of the panel are not concealed, but revealed – each imperfection transformed by gilded light into a silent testament of time. Painted in oil and adorned with 24k gold leaf, the icon unites sacred tradition with contemporary sensibility.

The wooden panel originates from a 17th-century church built entirely of timber, without the use of nails. Within that church, all the saints were painted directly onto its walls – a living sanctuary of sacred images. This origin infuses Mater Rupta with an even greater spiritual resonance, carrying within it the silent strength of centuries of devotion and prayer.

Here, sanctity does not arise from smoothness or symmetry, but from the visible endurance of matter – from the holiness of what survives. The Virgin Mary and Child appear not as untouchable ideals, but as a luminous presence within brokenness: vulnerable, human, and profoundly real.

Infused with devotion, Mater Rupta is more than an object of reverence; it is a meditation on fragility and resilience, on how divine beauty radiates through imperfection. This work invites reflection, prayer, and encounter – offering both a sacred image and a symbol of hope.

(11/25)