French artist creates sculptures from furniture damaged by Russian strikes
French artist Alexandre Henry has created a series of sculptures from furniture damaged by Russian strikes, restoring the objects using metal melted down from Russian missiles.
Source: Dezzen, a global online architecture, interiors and design magazine
Details: Henry worked on the project for two years. He called it Light Into Darkness.
He first travelled to Ukraine as a volunteer with the non-profit organisation Dutch Civilian Action, which helps residents of frontline towns. In 2023, he was later invited to document the volunteers' work as a photographer.
Quote: "When the full-scale invasion began, I questioned the role of art in a conflict like this and the impact it can have. I also remembered the documentation that was produced after the second world war and the importance of those archives for our collective memory."
More details: After visiting war-devastated areas, particularly the cities of Izium, Kharkiv and Kherson, Henry found damaged chairs, doors and window frames, objects that had survived the attacks. He described them as "silent witnesses" carrying "invisible traces of war". He collected about a dozen items.
He also gathered Russian missile and shell casings, melting them in Ukrainian foundries to forge prosthetic components that replace missing parts.
Quote: "The same metal that was used to destroy these objects would now be used to rebuild them, as a metaphor for the Ukrainian families who are rebuilding themselves out of the war."
More details: Henry later lived in Kyiv for three months where he had access to a studio to create sculptures inspired by his own experience.
The series was first presented during Dutch Design Week 2025. The project features two wooden dining chairs restored with cast aluminium inserts, a door bearing the marks of explosions from Russian missiles displayed on a stand made from melted shell casings and two window frames that formed part of an installation called Walls Remember alongside portraits of Ukrainians printed on fragments of ruined walls.
Henry plans to return to Ukraine to create a new work in collaboration with people who have suffered physical injuries, expanding the concept of prostheses.
Quote: "The project stands as a broader reflection on memory, resilience and reconstruction."
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