Stepping off the elevators on the fifth floor of the College of Fine Arts is like stepping into a new world. Six seemingly crude and ancient white pillars surround a ribcage that rests on a golden altar. Sculptor Annie Albagli couldn’t be happier with the effect created by her exhibition Gratitude in a Time of Exile.

“I want people to enter another world that can represent the sanctity of a place,” says Albagli (CFA’08), who is influenced by the ancient stones people walk over every day in such places as Israel and Egypt. “I think what I want to create with my work is a world that can completely immerse you.”

Albagli, who was originally a painting major, says her love of sculpture comes from the feeling it gives her of being surrounded by her art.

“With sculpture, I can say it in one sentence, and with painting I have to say it in a paragraph,” she says. “It takes a lot more to explain what you’re going for, at least for me.”

Gratitude in a Time of Exile is on display through March 22 in Gallery 5, on the fifth floor of the College of Fine Arts, 855 Commonwealth Ave. The opening reception is on Thursday, March 20, from 5 to 7 p.m.