AKU-AKU is the word in the Rapa Nui language of Easter Island that defines dæmon, soul, or the closest spirit that marks the rhythm of a person’s life. This sculpture is inspired by the fetishist tradition of African syncretic spirituality. When the healers or shamans of these cultures received a request from a supplicant they entrusted it to their sacred spirit or fetish, ‘awakening’ it.

An important part of the ritual consisted in nailing to the figure a piece of iron or some other element related to the ceremony. Similarly, in the invisible world of smells, molecules need to have a degree of excitation to be transmitted.

This sculpture combines the smell of metal with that of wood, and in this instance I would like to define that Wood as sandalwood, which has traditionally been used in many cultures as a ritual element.

Lluís Ventós