Blue Days Dust, an installation by Alicja Kwade in Galerie Mennour in Paris, 2024. A piece of Lapis Lazuli rock stands parallel to a wall painted with paint containing the natural pigment extracted from the gemstone Lapis Lazuli. Opposite the blue wall hangs a framed painting - sky or sea? - made with the same paint.
From one kilogram of lapis lazuli, you could extract barely 20 to 30 grams of ultramarine. That made it extremely expensive – in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it was even more costly than gold. As a result, it was reserved for images of saints and, in particular, for the Virgin Mary’s cloak. Synthetic variants became available from the 19th century onwards.
Kwade sees this installation as a time capsule that returns us to geological processes millions of years old. At the same time, she invites us to reflect on how we assign value to objects and materials such as precious stones. According to her, that value is not absolute but culturally determined.
