A slab of scorched earth floats like a discarded memory—neither fully anchored in the real world nor entirely imagined. On it, a white polar bear bends toward a porcelain ashtray as if searching for water, nourishment, or perhaps meaning. Behind the bear, a cluster of darkened, charred trees stands sentinel in front of a reversed highway sign, blazing in arresting red: “WRONG.” Water Kerner’s mixed media sculpture A Time 4 Us is more than an object—it is a visceral outcry.

Showcased in the Extinction: Save the Planet – 2025 international online exhibition, Kerner’s work resonates with the urgency and sorrow that defines our era of ecological collapse. Her piece, deceptively modest in scale, holds within it a theater of symbolism: the bear, a universal emblem of the Arctic’s vanishing wilderness; the ashtray, once a vessel for slow, smoldering ruin; the trees, now ghostly silhouettes of life; and the sign, a moral indictment and societal mirror. Each element carries weight, but it is their silent dialogue that haunts us.

At first glance, A Time 4 Us seems minimal, even surreal. But linger—and it becomes intimate, unsettling, and heartbreakingly human. The composition’s restraint draws the viewer inward, into a confrontation with what we’ve lost and what we still stand to lose. The sculpture isn’t merely about extinction as an abstract concept; it offers a requiem for moments not yet passed, for futures still salvageable, if we choose to act.

Kerner’s artistic voice emerges here as a quiet revolutionary force, subtle in gesture, yet piercing in effect. Her use of materials is precise and poetic: porcelain becomes a paradoxical oasis, industrial signage becomes confession, and blackened terrain becomes both setting and warning. The bear, cast in stark white, is not just a figure, it is a memory of purity, innocence, and wildness made alien in a manmade world.

This piece is also a continuation of Kerner’s series of “Floating Tableaus”, sculptural works that suspend miniature worlds in time and space. Each is embedded with partially hidden music boxes or “sound tracks,” a nod to the invisible hum of memory, loss, and nostalgia. These auditory elements, though unseen, suggest that the work can be as much felt as seen, a multisensory meditation on fragility and connection.

Kerner’s visual narrative is deeply rooted in her personal history. Raised among the woods of New York under a rural mailbox marked RFD #2, her early experiences with nature remain the bedrock of her creative instincts. Despite years spent immersed in urban landscapes and elite creative industries—from PBS and Cornell to Hollywood’s cinematic giants—her work remains an homage to the organic, the untouched, and the irreplaceable. Her fine art practice since 2009 has embraced this calling with renewed urgency and poetic vigor.

In A Time 4 Us, the title itself reads as a tender plea. It asks: Is there still a time for us? For coexistence? For repair? Or have we wandered too far into the scorched landscape of human hubris to find our way back?

Kerner doesn’t offer clear answers, but in the eloquence of her materials, the spareness of her stage, and the unbearable stillness of the bear’s gesture, she leaves a space for mourning, reflection, and perhaps redemption.

To explore more of Water Kerner’s evocative and emotionally charged creations, visit her official website, where each floating tableau reveals her devotion to art as a conduit for ecological truth. You can also follow her evolving artistic journey through her Biafarin profile, where her work continues to bridge memory, message, and mastery.