Massive Mud Sculpture Draws 60,000 Visitors in Mexico City

A Colombian artist named Delcy Morelos has created a massive sculpture made entirely of soil. The work, called *The Womb Space*, is currently on display in Mexico City and has attracted more than 60,000 visitors since it opened nine months ago. The sculpture is a circular, 12-metre-high structure with terraced walls of reddish earth. Visitors enter a dim, quiet space and are surrounded by the smell of soil. Many find the experience emotional. One woman in her 70s entered and whispered, "It smells like my ranch! Like playing in the dirt as a child." Morelos sourced the soil from the region where that woman grew up, which explains the familiar scent. The work includes cascading plant matter and has a humid, alive feeling. Visitors often describe feeling humble and primal, as if standing inside a mountain. The artist works with soil to highlight how humans treat the earth. "It sustains all life. It is where we all end up. Yet we treat it appallingly," she explains. The show has become a word-of-mouth sensation, drawing people who want to smell, touch, and reflect on the material that supports life. Morelos is now planning to bring her work to Britain, where her enormous mud sculpture is expected to cause a sensation.