Deep Spring
Photo Series
2021
This series of works is part of the author's internal search for answers to existential questions, embodied by self-portraits using objects that are ancient allegorical mythological symbols. Life and death are clearly interconnected and impossible without each other. For example, we might reflect upon the fact that the new always springs from the remnants of the past. After parting, deep inner experiences are reborn through immersion in themselves — in a new symbolic format of work. A key characteristic of nature is a sense of spring awakening. Thus, we can sense the coming of spring through the green water — a symbol of melting snow and the lushness of the first green shoots. The spring water also leaves behind and exposes all that remains after winter: the earth, the body, the senses. We all know ancient myths about the creation of the world — in these, the human body is a material — a clay from which sculptures are made of the greatest creation: people. In these photographs, the body also takes on a sculptural appearance. In many mythological tales there is another symbol: coins given as payment to the boatman, so one can cross the river to the land of the dead. Here, too, the coins also represent a kind of payment for rebirth, a new life and a new period for the artist. Flowers always symbolize the arrival of spring, awakening and the beginning of the new. The primrose represents the passing of love, and is also the first flower that blooms in the spring. In a number of myths, there are also fish that act as demiurge and participate in the creation of the world, forming a foundation for new beginnings. This immersion in colored water as a submergence in oneself and in the depths of nature indicates the artist’s stages of transition to a new life through the destruction of previous memories . The dead body-sculpture gradually sprouts flowers and creates its own foundation for new beginnings, impressions and experiences. (Text: Y. Stepanok, S. Garden, S. Davydenko)
