Callie Sculptures

Behind every sculpture, there is a story.

This is the story of Joy (2022),
a sculpture by Callie Bangyekan.

The final piece in the La Joie de Vivre series, I began this work in early spring 2022. I still remember the quiet happiness of that season—the simple, almost tender joy of seeing flowers bloom again. That morning, I sketched quickly, almost instinctively, then moved straight into sculpting. I worked non-stop over a long Easter weekend, carried by that feeling—feverishly shaping Joy, dancing, jumping with joy, her skirt billowing like the blossoms in my backyard.

Life soon became busy with work and business travel, and Joy was continued only in fragments over the following months—until she was nearly complete. Then she was set aside in the basement… almost forgotten over the years.

There is something bittersweet in that—a quiet reminder of how easily we lose touch with our own moments of joy.

Today, I found myself thinking of her again. Though she remains uncasted, still in her original clay form, I photographed the piece and used AI-rendered backgrounds to imagine her as a finished work.

Even in this unfinished state, I feel she holds something true—
a sense of joy, of peace, of stillness and serenity.


❣️

Behind every sculpture, there is a story.

This is the story of Joy (2022),
a sculpture by Callie Bangyekan.

The final piece in the La Joie de Vivre series, I began this work in early spring 2022. I still remember the quiet happiness of that season—the simple, almost tender joy of seeing flowers bloom again. That morning, I sketched quickly, almost instinctively, then moved straight into sculpting. I worked non-stop over a long Easter weekend, carried by that feeling—feverishly shaping Joy, dancing, jumping, her skirt billowing like the blossoms in my backyard.

Life soon became busy with work and business travel, and Joy was continued only in fragments over the following months—until she was nearly complete. Then she was set aside in the basement… almost forgotten over the years.

There is something bittersweet in that—a quiet reminder of how easily we lose touch with our own moments of joy.

Today, I found myself thinking of her again. Though she remains uncasted, still in her original clay form, I photographed the piece and used AI-rendered backgrounds to imagine her as a finished work.

Even in this unfinished state, I feel she holds something true—
a sense of joy, of peace, of stillness and serenity.


❣️

L’Amour (Love) 💕
A sculpture by Callie Bangyekan
Photography by Jan Raeymaekers Jan Raeymaekers

❣️