“Air Burial”: Reflections of Tibetan Wisdom in Glass・「鳥葬」：チベット文化の叡智を映すガラス彫刻

American artist Roni Horn, renowned for her contemporary works in painting, photography, sculpture, and drawing, often draws inspiration from nature’s forces and their shifting interplay with our perceptions of objects and landscapes.

My photo captures autumn leaves reflected in a pool of water atop Horn’s glass sculpture, Air Burial. The cylindrical piece, measuring 131.4 cm tall (51 in.) and 142.2 cm in diameter (56 in.), was crafted through a process Horn developed in the 1990s, where molten glass is poured into a cast and set over months. The result is a translucent exterior and a transparent, almost liquid-like interior. The water collected on the surface creates two layers of reflection, merging nature and art.

The title, Air Burial, references the Tibetan funerary ritual commonly known as a “sky burial.” This practice reflects a deep understanding of life’s impermanence, with the body returned to nature to sustain other life—a sustainable tradition shaped by Tibet’s harsh environment. Horn once explained that she envisions her sculpture undergoing a similar organic transformation, gradually breaking down and merging with its surroundings, echoing the essence of the sky burial.

References for further reading: https://www.pix4japan.com/blog/20241015-airburial

Study for Pair Object III, Roni Horn, 1986–87, MoMA: Drawings and Prints

Gift of the Gilbert B. and Lila Silverman Instruction Drawing Collection, Detroit Size: 15 1/2 × 13 5/8" (39.4 × 34.6 cm) Medium: Cut-and-pasted painted paper with felt-tip pen and pencil on paper

Space Shifters at the Hayward Gallery 2018. 

Alicja K Wade - stand out piece.

The Lava Fields of Iceland, Roni Horn, 1992, MoMA: Drawings and Prints

Purchase Size: composition (irreg.): 10 3/16 x 16 5/16" (25.8 x 41.4 cm); sheet: 18 1/8 x 24 3/8" (46 x 61.9 cm) Medium: Letterpress