Life is a Box of Chocolates is a sculptural reflection on the unpredictable, layered nature of human existence. In this piece, I created 81 hand-crafted clay chocolates arranged in a 9x9 grid—each one representing a year in an average human life. Together, they form a life lived piece by piece, bite by bite—each year a confection of memory, mystery, and meaning.
Some chocolates are bright, others subdued. Some seem inviting; others conceal what lies within. Just like our years, some are soft and sweet, others brittle or bitter, some hollow. This work is a reminder that we never truly know what each year will bring until we’ve unwrapped it, tasted it, lived through it.
The grid offers an illusion of control—order imposed on the chaos of living—but the individuality of each chocolate breaks that rhythm. Life resists symmetry. It spills, it surprises, it stains. The resin-coated canvas becomes a surface of memory, preserving each moment like amber—shiny, sealed, and slightly distorted with time, like the way we carry the past inside us.
To me, this piece is a metaphorical box of time: a shrine to the sacred ordinary, a diary without words. It speaks of the sweetness of youth, the complexity of middle years, the richness—or sometimes emptiness—of old age. It invites you to walk along your own inner timeline: What years tasted like joy? Which ones melted too quickly? Which ones left a mark?
Ultimately, Life is a Box of Chocolates is about presence—about honoring every year, whether delightful or difficult, as a necessary ingredient in the layered recipe of a life fully lived.
Clay, gold foil, resin on canvas, 14"x14"x0.5", 2025
