Amid the bustle of the Venice Biennale, jewellery creator and sculptor Wallace Chan finds solace on the steps of the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà. Gazing out at Venice’s Grand Canal, he radiates a sense of spiritual well-being. Spiritual wellness refers to our sense of purpose, meaning and inner peace in life, as well as a connection to something greater than oneself, which can be religious, philosophical or transcendent in nature.
In the 1990s, Dr Peggy Swarbrick, a research professor in psychology at Rutgers University in the US state of New Jersey, introduced the “Eight Dimensions of Wellness” model, which encompasses emotional, financial, social, occupational, physical, intellectual, environmental and spiritual well-being. What makes Swarbrick’s model insightful is the way these dimensions intersect. For instance, spiritual wellness overlaps with social connections – “a sense of belonging”, and occupational fulfilment – “enrichment from work”.
“In the end, everything will fade, and my body will no longer be here. That’s why I chose titanium – to me, this is much closer to eternity,” says the 68-year-old. His work partly comprises four 10-metre (33-foot) titanium sculptures suspended from the chapel’s ceiling.
It is, he says, his attempt to push beyond the confines of space and time, to transform conflicts into opportunities for growth and enlightenment. “My pursuit always centres on transcending struggle, difficulty, misery and pain,.