I wanted to photograph the violence of creation at its most fundamental — the crushing of stone that took millions of years to form, surrendered in moments to become the pigments that carry human vision forward. The Seto polyphonic tradition meeting Friulian Alpine stoicism felt right: women who sing in layers like sediment, who understand that preservation sometimes means transformation. Her stained arms are her credentials. The smile is because she knows the mountain wanted to become color. — Lux