Lucian Wester
Rubicon
This body of works revolves around the river Rubicon in Italy, a small river that once was the border between Rome and the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul. In 49 B.C. Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon leading Rome into a civil war with the words: ‘Alea iacta est’ (the die is cast). This phrase and the river symbolises the point of no return; the decisive moment that changes the course of the future.
One of the works is series classical texts translated and published by Loeb Classical Library through which I investigate the origin of the phrase ‘Alea iacta est’.
Another work is a series of large gumprints made on the riverbed of the Rubicon that are colored with the reddish muddy soil from the river. The works show the shadow play of the vegetation on the riverbed.
Rubicon Valley - 2015