The Magnificent Puddle
A project about finding an inner foundation. About the ability to preserve oneself and build one's own reality regardless of location or external circumstances.
The source of this foundation is childhood imagination, where entire universes emerged from simple materials, where loss and death became part of a natural experience, and where our true self was discovered through play.
A project about the idea that, by embracing one's source, it is possible to rebuild a world anew if the former one disappears.
The source of this foundation is childhood imagination, where entire universes emerged from simple materials, where loss and death became part of a natural experience, and where our true self was discovered through play.
A project about the idea that, by embracing one's source, it is possible to rebuild a world anew if the former one disappears.
art project
Julia Maramoro
2026 Moscow, Russia
2026 Moscow, Russia
Tree
Metal mesh, wire, plaster bandage, papier-mâché, exterior filler, paint
120 х 140 см, h 213 см
2026
Metal mesh, wire, plaster bandage, papier-mâché, exterior filler, paint
120 х 140 см, h 213 см
2026
The research began with a simple question: what is it that makes any place feel like home?
During a series of moves, I noticed that the feeling of home was not tied to a specific territory.
Instead, it seemed connected to memories, to a sense of self-understanding, to habits, and to the ways we relate to the world around us.
The project gradually became an attempt to find my own inner foundation. Not an external system of coordinates, but something that could be carried with me wherever I went.
And the first image to emerge was that of a tree.
During a series of moves, I noticed that the feeling of home was not tied to a specific territory.
Instead, it seemed connected to memories, to a sense of self-understanding, to habits, and to the ways we relate to the world around us.
The project gradually became an attempt to find my own inner foundation. Not an external system of coordinates, but something that could be carried with me wherever I went.
And the first image to emerge was that of a tree.
***
The tree is my home, my memory, my family. It is not rooted in the ground. Its roots have become legs.
It is an attempt to imagine home not as a place, but as a companion that travels alongside a person.
It is an attempt to imagine home not as a place, but as a companion that travels alongside a person.
— It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.
Donald W. Winnicott, Playing and Reality
Yet memory alone is not enough. A sense of confidence emerges where we know ourselves well. According to some psychoanalytic thinkers, self-discovery requires play.
The true self is formed through play, where one can be awkward, spontaneous, and free.
It is a space where mistakes are allowed, where the impossible can be tested, and where no one else's rules yet exist.
Take sticks, for example. One of the simplest tools of childhood.
They mean nothing, yet they can become anything. They speak to our ability to create meaning from what others might dismiss as rubbish.
It is a space where mistakes are allowed, where the impossible can be tested, and where no one else's rules yet exist.
Take sticks, for example. One of the simplest tools of childhood.
They mean nothing, yet they can become anything. They speak to our ability to create meaning from what others might dismiss as rubbish.
- A stick for stirring diesel fuel in a puddle
- A crutch-stick for limping races to see who is fastest
- A stick for drawing the borders of a territory
- A stick for turning over dead birds
- A stick whose purpose remains unknown
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Concrete Flower
Foam, filler, sand, acrylic paint, rebar, artificial flower and moss
19 х 18 см, h 70 см
2026
Foam, filler, sand, acrylic paint, rebar, artificial flower and moss
19 х 18 см, h 70 см
2026
A piece of a concrete slab with exposed rebar and a flower tied to it is about the power of imagination.
As children, abandoned buildings were adventures, palaces, ships, and unknown civilizations.
Even now, I can't call it an escape from reality. It was the ability to create our own worlds from what was around us, without worrying about what was considered normal.
As children, abandoned buildings were adventures, palaces, ships, and unknown civilizations.
Even now, I can't call it an escape from reality. It was the ability to create our own worlds from what was around us, without worrying about what was considered normal.
Carpet
Wool, thread, artificial flowers, oil paint, filler, sand, acrylic paint, fabric, foam board
125 х 80 х 5 см
2026
Wool, thread, artificial flowers, oil paint, filler, sand, acrylic paint, fabric, foam board
125 х 80 х 5 см
2026
Childhood and the past are not always made of pleasant memories. They are also where our first encounters with death take place.
This carpet was created using traditional cross-stitch embroidery from my family. That tradition disappeared together with the remarkable people who carried it.
Working on the carpet is not an attempt to preserve a family craft in its original form. Rather, it is a way of learning to accept loss and to transform tradition, allowing it to continue in a different shape.
This carpet was created using traditional cross-stitch embroidery from my family. That tradition disappeared together with the remarkable people who carried it.
Working on the carpet is not an attempt to preserve a family craft in its original form. Rather, it is a way of learning to accept loss and to transform tradition, allowing it to continue in a different shape.
Puddle
Wood, filler, sand, varnish, acrylic paint
100 х 60 см
2026
Wood, filler, sand, varnish, acrylic paint
100 х 60 см
2026
At the centre of the project is a puddle. An ordinary puddle, with spilled diesel fuel and a dead bird lying inside it.
As children, such things did not seem contradictory. The diesel shimmered with rainbow colours. The bird invited a closer look.
Beauty and death had not yet been separated into different categories. The Magnificent Puddle becomes an image of the world before those divisions appeared.
As children, such things did not seem contradictory. The diesel shimmered with rainbow colours. The bird invited a closer look.
Beauty and death had not yet been separated into different categories. The Magnificent Puddle becomes an image of the world before those divisions appeared.
Fish
Papier-mâché, paper, fabric, plastic structure, wire, rope
300 х 80 х 18 см
2026
Papier-mâché, paper, fabric, plastic structure, wire, rope
300 х 80 х 18 см
2026
The project culminates with a fish. Large and absurd.
It is the catch of one's own identity. It does not have to be beautiful. It does not have to be liked by anyone.
And it is so large that it can no longer be hidden.
It is the catch of one's own identity. It does not have to be beautiful. It does not have to be liked by anyone.
And it is so large that it can no longer be hidden.
The project exists as a total installation. The objects can be assembled within a gallery space, forming a single journey through memory, play, loss, and the search for one's own identity.
At the same time, the work is not bound to white walls.
The tree may walk onto a beach. The fish may find itself in a forest. The sticks may return to the field once again.
The project allows for further development through temporary interventions, performative gestures, and the placement of objects within urban or natural environments, where the question of what makes a home, and what keeps us grounded, is asked anew each time.
At the same time, the work is not bound to white walls.
The tree may walk onto a beach. The fish may find itself in a forest. The sticks may return to the field once again.
The project allows for further development through temporary interventions, performative gestures, and the placement of objects within urban or natural environments, where the question of what makes a home, and what keeps us grounded, is asked anew each time.