Exposed to the outside beach and ocean, Amaya’s copper reflecting pools are inspired by open-pit mines where copper is extracted - the very shape of the natural landscape the mining industry generates after drilling mountains to extract the mineral.

The salt water mirrors evoke the elemental conditions that characterize bodies of water. The project is a quiet contemplation of the presence and absolute absence of water in the climate. Immediately, one is reminded that we are made of water, and much of life is concerned with replenishing our physical and psychological geography with this extraordinary substance. The idea invites the public to meditate on the transient and transformative nature of water and how these fundamental processes are reflected in the life of one’s own being.

Change is embedded in the sculpture as the work is filled with sea water and is ultimately exposed to the environment. The minerals in the copper pools continue to evolve and evaporate through a process of oxidation and crystallization activated by the water.

These containers function as mirrors: the interaction of salt and water within each container begins a process in which the oxidation of copper produces a secondary crystal called chrysocolla. This, over time, changes the tone of the vessel to a bluish-green range. The interaction of these natural materials progressively and organically create, with a rigorous geometry, different fractal landscapes in each container.

The project also arises from the artist’s ongoing interest and research in exploring the changes in matter and the consequences when matter is being placed in different geographical contexts such as texture, patina and the environmental changes under different microclimates embedded in the process. The resultant pools, each unique, contain a visual memory of time.