Story of the Piece: Breath Between Worlds

Whales have a way of stopping time — of reminding us how small we are, and how vast the world still is. In Breath Between Worlds, Michelle captures a moment of emergence: the still breath before the surface is broken, and a giant of the sea exhales into light.

The hand-painted whale rises above a driftwood base deliberately chosen for its scale — a reminder that even these immense beings move within a sea far greater than themselves. That contrast, that dichotomy, holds meaning: vastness and vulnerability, strength and silence, the fragility of breath in a world that swells endlessly around it.

This work is a tribute to the ocean’s most ancient and awe-inspiring presence — the whale.

Inky blues and storm-grey pigments sweep across the driftwood like deep currents. Real volcanic pumice stone evokes fissures in the ocean floor — those mysterious, hidden places of pressure and origin. Coral fragments, collected from local shores, rest like memories of light far below.

Breath between worlds is about resilience. About surfacing. About the quiet, sacred rhythm of breath that links every creature to every current. A reminder that rising takes strength — and that in the deep, we are never truly alone.

Materials: Reclaimed driftwood, hand-painted humpback whale, pumice stone, natural coral, hand-painted bas.

Dimension: 46cm x 36cm

POA