Made over 2,200 years ago, the Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike of Samothrace) is attributed to the Hellenistic Greek culture and was discovered in 1863 on the island of Samothrace in the northeastern Aegean Sea. Carved from white Parian marble with a grey Rhodian marble ship-shaped base, it depicts what has been identified as the goddess Nike alighting on the prow of a warship, with her head and arms missing but her wings and drapery dramatically rendered to suggest movement. The total height

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the Winged Victory of Samothrace in Paris. It stands at the top of a staircase in the Louvre, commanding attention, even without a head or arms—proof that beauty can transcend imperfection. That visit stayed with me for years and I felt compelled to honor its timelessness through my own work. I created this piece on the frozen Baltic Sea with charcoal and chalk letting the fractured ice mimic the marble, and the snow’s natural patterns echo the flowing drap