hope sculpture

Hand-carved by Wayan Kandiyasa, this sculpture depicts a face on either side, resting atop a square base. The Indonesian sculpture is made of soapstone, featuring floral motifs and a wonderful abstract design.

The perfect gift for parents to-be, this lovely sculpture symbolizes a father's hopes and dreams for his children. Balinese artisans use local suar wood to hand carve sculpture, diligently crafting smooth, stylized curves and charming openwork details.

Following the traditional Balinese carving techniques, Sarwaedi creates a stunning relief panel from suar wood. The inspiration comes from faith and hope, adding leafy and fruit motifs around the cross to represent his wishes for a world full of prosperity, love and peace.

A young girl clings to the crescent moon on Eka's evocative statuette. Using hibiscus wood with a lovely natural grain, Balinese artisans carve the statuette by hand, gently polishing the wood for a rich luster. Carefully crafted, this statuette is a symbol of hope and shared dreams.

Buddha assumes the lotus position in this beautiful kadam wood carving. Raised in blessing, his hand sends a message of peace to a war-torn world. This revered and enlightened religious figure invited his followers to free themselves from desire in order to attain perfection. His peace of spirit is represented in the serenity of this piece from Suresh and Devender Garg.

"I see a lack of compassion between fellow beings these days and few people who bring about peace in society. The process to make peace for the common good in society and the world starts with the self, doing small things such as meditating and practicing mindfulness to solve problems for the sake of both peace and the world," master artisan Wayan Rendah says.

"My hope is that everyone can respect one other and respect the differences that exist to avoid hostility and injustice in life and society.

"Buddha's teachings promote inner peace and unity for achieving enlightenment, and Buddha has motivated many to transform their life choices over thousands of years, spanning periods of chaos and stability."

The Buddhist concept of a peaceful life inspires this hand-carved hibiscus wood sculpture depicting the serene face of Buddha, blessing all those within his presence. At the centre of a world suspended in equilibrium, Buddha seeks discipline and selflessness among the inhabitants of the Earth.

Throughout history, doves have inspired messages of peace and unity. Balinese artisan Made Wirata also draws inspiration from these winged friends to hand-carve a suar wood sculpture of two loving doves atop a globe.

""Where there is love, there will be love. Where there is love, there will be a feeling of peace, both within yourself, your family, and society in the world," says the artisan. "I hope the world will always be at peace. When the world experiences peace, a harmonious world will be created, and the economy will be improving, as part of a peaceful world.

"If we look at the character of doves, we know why they were chosen as a symbol of peace," the artisan continues. "Doves do not like to kill when looking for food, and do not like to fight when attacked by predators.

"Now, in the world, there is so much strife between humans, so much murder, greed, and injustice. Hopefully, humans can imitate the character of the dove sharing feelings of affection, tenderness, and love. This is how the world will become peaceful and serene."

Give peace a chance with this breathtaking suar wood sculpture by Balinese artisan Nyoman Sudiana. "To achieve peace, there are several things that must be created, namely the availability of basic human needs which consist of clothing, food, and shelter. In the world, there is also a harmonious relationship that must be preserved starting from ourselves, namely humans with God, humans with fellow creatures created by God, and humans with the universe's environment. If it has been created in us, we will feel that peace, and our lives will feel more comfortable and peaceful," says the artist.

In this statue, each of these pillars of peace has the following meaning:

• The doves are a symbol of purity and hope, tenderness of devotion. Doves are also associated with the third chakra, which is connected to purpose, creativity, self-expression, and ego.
• The globe is a symbol of the earth itself where we as God's creatures are the inhabitants of the world.3. The two hands symbolize human efforts to care for and maintain a strong life hand in hand to create peace for all mankind and the rest of nature.
• The two pillars symbolize justice and prosperity in which every human being must be able to meet the needs of clothing, food, and shelter for a comfortable life in the world.
• The nuclear disarmament motif symbolizes the Anti-War Movement design by Gerald Holtom on February 21, 1958. This symbol is a combination of semaphore signals for the letters N and D which stand for nuclear disarmament.
• Two open fingers symbolize victory in the struggle.

"The tree of hearts is designed from personal inspiration. It's a metaphor of hope as I imagined a tree with heart-shaped fruits that when ripe, a person could pick and give as a present, or perhaps exchange, or else give to people who need to be more sensitive towards others, and why not, be more to sensitive to the environment?" says Luitpol as he shares his reflections. "The boy jumping up and down shows his happiness at being next to the tree of hearts and feeling the effects of its fruits: love, peace, unity, and sensibility."

Titled "Árbol de corazones" in Spanish.

This elegant angle wears green, a colour thought to represent hope and new life. Molded and painted by hand, the heavenly messenger features colonial-era style wings and a gown motif of interlocked circles. Believing God set her on this path, artist Arlen Estrada has dedicated herself to creating ceramic pieces that take their inspiration from Nicaragua's past, both colonial and indigenous.

"This sculpture represents the way to keep forgiving each other, loving each other, and to be at peace with yourself, because we are all brothers," explains Balinese artisan Wayan Rendah, conveying this vision in his superbly hand-carved relief panel.

"I is inspired by the turmoil of the world, which is completely uncertain, which causes unrest and difficulties for all countries, Where each party shows a high sense of ego and feels the most right, without realizing it.

"We are all brothers and sisters in this world. There should be no such thing as enmity. In the Hindu sloka verses, the Wedadikatan Sloka — "Wasumdhwam Kutumbhaka" — means let's sit together and shake hands looking for a way to an agreement to achieve world peace."

The artist continues, "The way to make peace for the common good in society and the world is to mediate, to sit down together to find the best solution for problems, and to solve them for the sake of mutual peace and the world. My hope is that all people can respect each other to avoid hostility and injustice in life and society.

"We must forgive and love one another in order to achieve peace. We are all brothers and sisters in this world where there should be no such thing as hatred.

"Love and peace are powerful concepts that inevitably go hand in hand, because one does not exist without the other."