Agnė Šemberaitė (LT). PRAYING MANTIS. - 5800 Eur

Title:   Prying Mantis   (from the exhibition Fear Whispering).

Year and Place:   2023, Lithuania.

Materials:   Stoneware, pigment, engobes, glaze.

Technique:   Hand‑built and partly molded; fired at 1250 °C.

Description:   Prying Mantis was created within the artist’s solo exhibition Incantation of Fear, a project exploring how subconscious fear manifests amid rapid social and geopolitical shifts. The mantis figure operates as a symbolic entity embodying both reverence and terror: its slow, ritual‑like movements evoke contemplation, while its predatory nature introduces an undercurrent of threat. By merging human and insect characteristics, the work challenges anthropocentric assumptions and underscores the fragility of human civilization when confronted with the enduring, indifferent forces of nature. The sculpture becomes a meditation on vulnerability, instinct, and the uneasy coexistence of beauty and menace.

Exhibition History:   IV Latvia Ceramics Biennale — Solo exhibition Fear Whispering: A Journey Within, Rothko Museum, Daugavpils, Latvia (2023);

Fear Whispering — Solo exhibition, Gallery Arka, Vilnius, Lithuania (2024);

Whispers — Solo exhibition, Kretinga Museum Winter Garden Gallery, Kretinga, Lithuania (2025).

Publication History:   4th Latvia Ceramics Biennale catalogue (2023);

NEW CERAMICS – The International Ceramics Magazine, Issue 25/4 (2025).