In 2018, I took up the concept of ladders to build a "narrative" articulating in nine phases, which represent the Buddhist vision of life and death as a wave that forms from the mass of the ocean and in the ocean returns after the completion of its cycle. I created this sequence of nine ladders on glass for an exhibition that never took place. The first and last ladders are white, almost invisible against the white background of the wall, like the shapeless mass of the ocean from which all lives come and return. The second and penultimate of the cycle have a grey portion, with an identity barelysuggested as in people's childhood and old age. In the third and last but second,dark grey parts addto the light grey parts as in the adolescent and senile years of humans, when personality fully builds itself. The fourth and last but third are almost completely black, with a hint of primary colours, symbolizing human adulthood. The fifth and central is completely black with many primary colours, such as the height of human life in this world, as the maximum energy of the wave of life. From an existential point of view, this set of nine tables represents a story, the story of a lifetime, of every life that proceeds inevitably from birth to growth, aging and death. From a visual point of view, each table has an irregular and unique warp and weft, like the individuality of every sentient and non-sentient being. The entire set of tables forms the story: life in its entirety. The causes and conditions that led to the creation of “A lifetime” stemmed from the desire to produce a sequence integrating in a small boutique of green plants where it was intended to be located. I was looking for something light, "organic" like the plants in the store, which would not burden the walls but createdon the contrary a harmonious counterpoint to the plants on display. The content of this work is transformation: as life is transforming at every instant, the progression of ladders represents a continuous transformation. What is transient in this work is the shape of individual ladders and the colours applied. What is original is the story in its evolution from initial chaos to final chaos through a sequence of possible forms. Within my life, this work recalls a Buddhist vision of life as a wave in the ocean that gradually forms, reaches a climax and then returns to the ocean from which it started. Each wave is unique and unrepeatable in its individuality. Life proceeds from universal energy and returns to it in order to regain energy for a later life, in an endless process. Seen from this perspective, every life is but the expression of the energy of the universe and belongs to it fully. Life and death are part of a single creative process. While moving the glass slabs, I noticedthat transparency games occurred by overlapping the boards. The nine tables(or some of them) can be superimposed, creating ever-changing chromatic and material effects...