Ginkgo Biloba

When Chrystiane Charles sculpted her first Ginkgo lamp in 1990, she recognised in this tree a mirror of bronze itself: a form that precedes us, that outlives us, that persists. Its fan-shaped leaf has remained almost unchanged for 270 million years. Three stems here rise from a round base and entwine, part, and find one another again in a slow, organic movement. The fan-shaped leaves open on their radiating veins, each one chased to the nearest detail of its texture. No shade: the light is born directly from the leaf, lodged at its base.