After a brutal storm, Italian sculptor Marco Martalar was moved to transform the damage into something beautiful. Sitting atop a mountain in the northern Trentino region of Italy, an enormous dragon has become a symbol of Mother Nature’s force. Martalar created the magnificent creature from the scattered branches of the storm, turning tragedy into art.
In 2018, the Vaia storm ripped across northern Italy. With winds reaching up to 125 miles per hour, a tremendous amount of forest was destroyed. In Trentino alone, over 18,000 trees were uprooted by the devastating storm, which was unprecedented. Vaia had a profound effect on Martalar, changing the way that he viewed his art. “The type of sculpture that I was doing before no longer made sense,” he tells My Modern Met. “So I started using what the storm had destroyed and gave it new life as art.”
The dragon, which is located on the Alpe Cimbra in Lavarone, holds special significance. Martalar sees it as a representation of nature’s power and what can happen when the environment isn’t respected. To create the piece, he spent 10 days planning the project and dedicated a month and a half to on-site sculpting.
While the dragon isn’t the only sculpture that Martalar created from the fallen wood, he considers it his most majestic. And while he’s moved on to other projects, his dragon has become a sort of local symbol. As others pose with the dragon and take pictures of it covered in snow, it stands as a reminder that we should never take the power of Mother Nature for granted.
Italian sculptor Marco Martalar has created an enormous dragon sculpture made of wood from the Vaia storm.
This 2018 storm devastated forests in northern Italy and caused over 18,000 trees to fall in some regions.
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Martalar says that the storm changed him as an artist and he decided to create art from its destruction.
His dragon stands as a symbol of Mother Nature’s force.
Standing on the Alpe Cimbra in Lavarone, the Vaia Dragon has become a new monument for visitors.
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My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Marco Martalar.
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