The Story Behind the Work

The industrial use of cast concrete has a rich history in South Africa. As Ledelle Moe notes with pride, it was in her homeland that a widely used form of concrete breakwater was invented in the early 1960s. Called dolosse, after the Afrikaans name for toys resembling jacks, the heavy, interlocking bone-shaped chunks of concrete today are used around the world to protect harbors and shore lines from the destructive force of ocean waves.

The irony isn't lost on Moe that her material of choice -- a metaphor for impermanence -- has proved to be such a durable defense against Mother Nature. Nor is the fact that the concrete she's now using is fortified with fly ash, a waste product of coal combustion whose reclamation as a building material has been hailed by environmentalists. She's saving the planet, you see, even as she makes art about its disintegration.