Title: The Growth of Life I
Size:81.5x108x6cm

Date Finished: December 25, 2021 

Medium: Mixed Media
Made in Melbourne, Australia

In The Growth of Life, Sergio Borja distils memory into texture — a golden field of recollection and reverence. The artwork is both minimalist and monumental, a meditation on the artist’s childhood spent amidst the rice fields, where the cycles of planting and harvest mirrored the growth of life itself.

The luminous gold surface, sculpted through rich, tactile layers, evokes the sun-drenched horizon of his youth — a place of laughter, family, friendship, and endless curiosity. Each raised ridge and ripple becomes a visual metaphor for the persistence and resilience of nature, echoing how rice — the humble yet vital grain — sustains and strengthens entire communities.

Gold, the colour of vitality and divinity, transforms the simplicity of the fields into something sacred. It celebrates abundance not as wealth, but as nourishment — physical, emotional, and spiritual. In this work, the artist invites viewers to witness life’s quiet majesty: how growth begins unseen, nurtured by light, patience, and love. 

Part of a continuing series exploring memory and material, The Growth of Life captures a universal truth — that from the earth’s humble beginnings, something radiant always emerges.