ZT Tosha
Title: Christ
Material: Jute rope (25 meters, 1 cm diameter), iron oxide pigment
Year: 2025
Florence, Italy – Internationally recognized artist ZT Tosha unveils his latest sculptural work, Christ, at the XV Florence Biennale. A poignant meditation on suffering, transformation, and spiritual presence, the piece continues Tosha’s exploration of existential form through elemental materials and symbolic resonance.
Christ consists of a single 25-meter jute rope, one centimeter in diameter, coiled into a hive-like form and pigmented with iron oxide. The entire structure is encased within a transparent glass vitrine measuring 85 cm in width, 63 cm in height, and 65 cm in depth. This vitrine serves not only as a protective boundary but as a conceptual frame—elevating the sculpture into the realm of relic and reliquary.
The rope—an unassuming, utilitarian material—becomes a profound symbol of burden and binding. Its spiral form evokes notions of circular time, sacred ritual, and meditative embodiment. The application of iron oxide introduces a visceral weight, conjuring associations with blood, rust, and the earth, and invoking the physical and spiritual suffering of the Passion.
Enclosed within the vitrine, the work is rendered untouchable—sacred, isolated, and contemplative. The transparent barrier offers visual intimacy while enforcing emotional distance, underscoring the metaphysical divide between the viewer and the divine, between presence and absence.
ZT Tosha’s Christ is not a depiction, but an invocation. It offers no didactic image of faith—only its residue. In this silent spiral of form and material, belief and doubt turn endlessly around one another, echoing the inner tension at the heart of human experience.
The XV Florence Biennale will take place from 18 October to 26 October 2025, held at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence
