10/14/2025
"Zafira is an Arabic name meaning “successful”, but I didn’t know that when I chose it. To me, Zafira’s name evokes her graceful strength as a dancer. I really admire the art of dance, both because it is a beautiful form of creative expression and because it’s never been something I had any skill at myself. I think Zafira is a very joyful and uplifting piece, both because of her colorful palette and her dancing pose, which is based on the golden mean. It’s a shape that appears throughout nature, from our vast Milky Way galaxy to the shells of tiny sea creatures, and artists have been using it for centuries. We often see it represented horizontally, but when I flipped it on its side I kept seeing this dancing figure in it, and I really wanted to sculpt her. I think this pose makes her seem almost weightless, like she’s already leapt off her base, joyfully embracing the unknown."
The Revolutionist: What’s your process as an artist, how do you bring your ideas to reality? Pavia Justinian: I really enjoy looking through found steel and other materials and seeing h…
