After embroidering portraits of his loved ones into the palm of his hand, Spanish artist David Catá returns with a new project that is equally as stomach-churning.
Having demonstrated a remarkably high threshold for pain, Catá takes the concept of ‘body as canvas’ even further by sowing real living plants in his palm.
For his latest experiment ‘Raices Aladas’ or ‘Winged Estate’, he peeled a layer of skin from his palm to create a pouch which he filled with soil and foliage.
The artist was inspired by a poem by Juan Andres Zuñiga, which likens a snake shedding its skin to the life, death and resurrection of a plant.
With its literal symbolism, Catá’s artpiece is a living, breathing reminder not to lose sight of “your roots, your origins, your innermost”, even as you “grow wings” and take flight.
Check out his project below.
[via Ecouterre, images via David Catá]