Canticum (2024) comprises 29 white porcelain vessels and 10 curved silver forms, arranged in measured alignment within a pair of vitrines. The title—Latin for “hymn”—suggests ritual, rhythm, and devotion; the vessels line up like notes on a silent score, where intervals of breath become part of the composition.
De Waal uses the “container” as a narrative device, exploring how memory can be placed, held, and protected. The fragility and luminosity of porcelain speak to the precarity and endurance of human experience, while the reflective surfaces of silver and glass refract time, perception, and the shifting act of seeing.
Continuing the artist’s “poetics of objects,” Canticum transforms minimal space into an intimate field of attention, where the breathing spaces and silences between vessels gather into a quiet, wordless prayer.