Liviu Mocan

Episode 21 of the Pass The Torch: Legacies in Jewelry podcast, hosted by Nadja de Sá Van Diest, titled "Liviu Mocan" was published on August 19, 2025 and runs 57 minutes.

August 19, 2025 ·57m · Pass The Torch: Legacies in Jewelry

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Summary

Liviu Mocan is a Romanian sculptor whose work is rooted in faith, resilience, and remembrance. Born and raised under the oppressive Communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Liviu came of age in a time when creativity was feared, censored, and surveilled. Artists were expected to serve the state—or remain silent.In December 1989, the Romanian Revolution erupted, sparked by student protests in the city of Timișoara. As the protests spread, the regime responded with brutal violence. In Cluj-Napoca, where Liviu lived and worked, college students were shot and killed in the streets by government forces—a massacre that marked a turning point in the fall of the dictatorship.Years later, Liviu was commissioned to create a series of sculptural memorials placed exactly where those students were murdered. These pieces are not just monuments—they are acts of dialogue with God and with history. They carry grief, honor sacrifice, and testify to the sacredness of human courage in the face of tyranny.Liviu’s art continues to explore themes of justice, hope, and spiritual identity. For him, sculpture is not just form—it is prayer. To see the short film about sculptor Liviu Mocan — released in 2007 and produced by my mom, Rochelle de Sa Raimao — click this link: https://youtu.be/_BO__IKvlVY

Episode Description

Liviu Mocan is a Romanian sculptor whose work is rooted in faith, resilience, and remembrance. Born and raised under the oppressive Communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Liviu came of age in a time when creativity was feared, censored, and surveilled. Artists were expected to serve the state—or remain silent.In December 1989, the Romanian Revolution erupted, sparked by student protests in the city of Timișoara. As the protests spread, the regime responded with brutal violence. In Cluj-Napoca, where Liviu lived and worked, college students were shot and killed in the streets by government forces—a massacre that marked a turning point in the fall of the dictatorship.Years later, Liviu was commissioned to create a series of sculptural memorials placed exactly where those students were murdered. These pieces are not just monuments—they are acts of dialogue with God and with history. They carry grief, honor sacrifice, and testify to the sacredness of human courage in the face of tyranny.Liviu’s art continues to explore themes of justice, hope, and spiritual identity. For him, sculpture is not just form—it is prayer.
To see the short film about sculptor Liviu Mocan — released in 2007 and produced by my mom, Rochelle de Sa Raimao — click this link: https://youtu.be/_BO__IKvlVY