Alkes is the alpha star of the constellation of the  Crater and carries the symbolism of the sacred cup.  

Its name derives from the Arabic Al-Ka’s, meaning  “the cup”, evoking the idea of a vessel that contains  and preserves something precious. 

The cup is traditionally associated with a vital  substance, often regarded as sacred, that has to be  protected and shared. 

Among these, water stands as the most essential: it  is the foundation of all life. 

To preserve water means to sustain life itself and to  support the continuity of ecosystems.  

At the Earth’s poles, water exists predominantly in  the form of ice, where it can contain particles and  traces of past environmental conditions. 

In this sense, ice becomes a vessel, a cup that  preserves physical records of the planet’s  atmospheric and climatic history, carrying them  forward in time. 

Through the use of a microscope, I created  photographs of a frozen drop of water that becomes  a container of itself. 

This gesture operates as a metaphor for care: an  attempt to hold, observe, and preserve a substance  that is fundamental to life and increasingly affected  by ongoing planetary transformations.