my mom always told me i could make gold out of shit but diamonds are a girl`s best friend

For generations there has been the collective dream in our society of reaching fame and fortune with little effort and less work. With a simple portrait using the quintessential symbol of opulence, Anna Baranowski questions the concept of value in the 'piece of art'. From the most personal, yet least valued by-product of the artists existence, the carbon has been extracted to press a real diamond in the HPHT procedure within 5 months. Sparkling in the mystical garment of the Wenge sculpture, the diamond takes-on the deep inky black of its velvety home and offers stolen shards of reflected light to the voyeur’s eye. An intimate communion is evoked by a custom lens, drawing the diamond into sharp clarity only if the distance between sculpture and eye is less than a few millimeters. The surreal, floating gemstone hints at the creation of stars and the madness of infinity, encased there in the corporeal Wenge-sculpture to lend boundary and safe passage to its acquaintance.