Although artist Dubian Monsalve completed the large outdoor sculpture "Pregnant Mountain" in 2012 near the small town of Santo Domingo near Medellin, Colombia, it's taken some time to catch the international public eye. Monsalve, a college student at the time, who used only rudimentary farming tools to carve his masterpiece in the short span of 15 days, didn't take any photos of his completed sculpture or do anything to promote his work.
According to an interview with Monsalve hosted by the Colombian YouTube Channel Teleantioquis Notica, it was not until 2015, when an anonymous photo was uploaded online, that Pregnant Mountain received over 2 million likes on Facebook and became a tourist attraction in an otherwise quiet town. Recently, photos of the sculpture have been making rounds on social media again, with a June 4 post on The Australian Catholics page receiving over 35K likes.
"It's a tribute to life," the artist explained to ACI Prensa. He expounded by saying the sculpture "is also a way to honor the people living in the community who were impacted by the social and political crises surrounding drug trafficking in the 1990s. It was a way to symbolize that whole process that we had to live ... Now I think there is another hope, despite the difficulties we went through... People returned to the countryside, they planted again, they are inhabiting the houses. So, it was a tribute like being born again," Monsalve said.
Monsalve also touched on the fact that the sculpture is a statement about his Christian convictions in defense of life. "I am a believer and I believe that life is worth everything. So that symbol of a Pregnant Mountain also represents the woman who gives life because life is sacred from conception to its natural end."
Visit Dubian Monsalve’s Instagram channel to see more of his exceptional works of art.
