crystallisation by Jewell Dalina

crystallisation is a work by Jewell Dalina developed within the broader Salt of the Wound series. The piece examines how love and grief settle into memory through the symbolism of salt and saltwater. Dalina draws from family traditions in Arteche, Eastern Samar in the Philippines, where saltwater purification and the scattering of salt are used to cleanse spaces and bodies. Encounters with albularyos, traditional folk healers who combine herbal remedies with ritual practices, also inform the work’s cultural context. The title references the idea of crystallisation described by Stendhal, a process through which love becomes fixed in the mind and reshapes perception. In Dalina’s work, she recognises how salt in its myriad of forms throughout history and cultures, has preserved, scarred, and most crucially, healed people, but in mourning it is the taste and sting of tears. The original artwork is created using soft pastels on paper. @jewelldalina