Still Growing - What Holds Series

This work explores growth as a system rather than a symbol.

Derived from the abstracted tree forms developed in Her Revival, this piece isolates structure—branching logic, interruption, and continuity—removing the figure to focus on the environment that shapes it.

Powder-coated steel lines cut through the composition, acting as both framework and resistance. Reclaimed ceramic tiles—hand cut and wet-saw cut—fill the negative space, each piece carrying material history and variation. The work relies on contrast: rigid and organic, controlled and adaptive, precise and imperfect.

The composition reflects how growth actually occurs—not linearly, but through collision, redirection, and constraint. Structure does not resolve chaos here; it holds it.

Created shortly before a period of extended recovery, the work reads in hindsight as architectural intuition—mapping thresholds before they were crossed.

I continuously respect the juxtaposition of organic and industrial design. I share the why behind Mercedes Austin Art in this blog with more images and influences for this piece.