"Lignes de vie IV" (2026) is a large-format work in handmade linen paper, natural paint, and canvas (80 x 100 cm), part of an ongoing series by Belgian artist Sophie De Zutter (b. 1979) that takes the "lines of life" — the creases and markings found in skin, bark, or stone — as its starting point.

As with all her work, the linen paper is handmade using traditional papermaking techniques learned through the transmission of an ancestral craft, giving the surface its raw, organic foundation. Across this support, subtle natural pigments and built-up layers trace fine, meandering lines and ridges, slowly unfolding to reveal the richness of cracks, roughness, and delicate nuances that give the piece its sense of depth and history.

The larger scale of this fourth iteration allows De Zutter's play with light, texture, and depth to unfold more expansively, with fragility and strength held in delicate balance across the surface. The result is a contemplative, map-like composition that reads as both an abstract landscape and a meditation on time, growth, and the marks life leaves behind.