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Nel riflesso di una roccia lontana is a project that takes shape from a simple and respectful gesture: the hand-harvesting of dried lichens in the woods of Ollomont, in Valle d'Aosta. Here, in the silence of the woods and mountains, a creative process of listening, attention and transformation begins.
Ollomont is a place marked by time. Its copper mines, active until 1945, have left a deep mark on the landscape and the memory of the village. The old mine shafts, now abandoned, still preserve the reflection of copper in the rocks: a discreet glow that seems to point a way.
At the centre of the work is the lichen: a resistant organism, capable of growing where other plants cannot. Immersed in operculum wax, a natural ethereal wax produced by local beekeepers, it is transformed into a sort of ‘botanical skeleton’, giving life to a light sculpture, similar to a natural lace. The artist’s desire was to create a work as sincere as possible, and to be guided in every step by the movements of the material, creating a process of continuous exchange with the natural world.
Cast in bronze, the work retains a rough surface. The copper, in contact with air, rain and sun, changes colour over time, recalling the shades of dried lichen. The sculpture lives in the open air, transforming with the light, with the seasons, with the gaze of the observer.
Hetty Laycock presents a work that does not impose itself but accompanies. An invitation to slow down, to listen to material, to find in the small natural elements – lichens, wax, metal – a deep connection with the landscape and with the time that passes through us.

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Artwork:
01. Hetty Laycock, Continuum, 2025, copper, lost-wax casting, 100 x 100 x 100 cm
Strada Comunale, Loc. Le Croux, 11010 Ollomont (AO)

Hetty Laycock (Cambridge, UK, 1997) is a sculptor originally from Yorkshire. She graduated from Falmouth University, Cornwall (UK, 2019) and the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice (IT, 2024). Her practice blends material transformation and collaboration with place. Responding to contemporary challenges of ecological fragility and material responsibility, her sculptures emphasize acts of weathering, growth, destruction, ageing and transformation. Employing concepts of weightlessness, negative space, and organic elements, her sculptures emulate—and at times integrate—natural phenomena and processes. Her work invites viewers to reconsider the possibilities of clay, transcending its conventional forms to create pieces that resonate with the rhythms of the natural world. She has taken part in exhibitions and artist residencies in the UK, Italy, Slovenia, Poland, Taiwan, and China. A key moment in her career was a three-month residency at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, culminating in her first solo exhibition. She is currently developing new sculptural projects in Japan, Belgium, and Italy, where she will continue to deepen her exploration of contemporary sculpture, coexistence, and proximity.