The Alchemy of the Discarded: The Art of Alexandre da Cunha In the hands of Alexandre da Cunha, the debris of urban existence undergoes a profound metamorphosis. A Brazilian-British artist born in Rio de Janeiro in 1969, da Cunha has carved a singular niche in contemporary sculpture by finding extraordinary beauty within the mundane and the forgotten. His practice is not merely one of assembly, but an act of poetic reclamation, where discarded objects—items destined for the refuse bin—are resurrected to tell stories of social history, architectural grandeur, and cultural identity. By strippi…