How can one show Death without actually showing Death itself? That is the question I had to answer in order to write one of my works.
Hey! This text has been translated into English using automatic Google translation. So I apologize for the inaccuracies in the text. The original in Russian can be seen here
The creation of a picture, especially a large and complex one, is most often accompanied by heavy torments of creative search. Thus, a new work can go a long and difficult way from idea to final implementation. Sometimes such searches drag on for months, and in special cases even for years. This is exactly what happened with the painting “Kalinov Bridge”.
The history of the work “Marena”
The history of my painting began in my last year at the university with my thesis “Marena”. Unexpectedly for myself, I determined the main theme of the graduation project in the mythological direction. And he narrowed it down to the myths of our ancestors, pagan Belarusians. This theme has remained in my work for a long time. I still keep coming back to it.
Of all the pagan myths, I was then interested in the image of the goddess Marena. This is a female mythological character associated with the seasonal rites of the death and resurrection of nature. Such an embodiment of death, which, together with cold and frost, reigned over the earth and people all winter. And by spring, when food supplies ran out, death came to almost every house.
However, our ancestors had a special idea about death and about the gods. They believed that goddesses do not grow old, but remain forever young and beautiful. But Marena saw so much horror and grief that she turned into a decrepit old woman. Indeed, according to the beliefs of our ancestors, she was a guide – she helped the souls of the dead to cross over to the other side. She sympathized and grieved with everyone.
I then tried to convey all this in my work. And it seemed that everything was taken into account. But over time, I began to understand that the controversial topic of “Death” needs to be approached more subtly. Then I began to think and look for ways to express and convey grief and pain in a different way, without showing them so harshly and straightforwardly.
History of work “Kalinov bridge”
Search
For a while I put this topic aside. Because it was impossible to come up with something worthwhile. All thoughts rested on a banal description of what is happening. But I wanted something else. Sometimes I returned to the study of myths, hoping to find something that would give me the right idea. And then one day, after 3-4 years, I came across a legend about a mythical bridge.
So, Kalinov Bridge is a mythological bridge, which, according to the beliefs of the old Slavs, had a very specific location. True, many different places are called, from exact to fictional, for example, the sea, the desert or the river (fiery, Danube, Currant). This bridge connected the banks of the boundary river between “that” and “this” world, connected the world of the living with the other world, its representatives belonging to the kingdom of death. Kalinov Bridge was paved by evil spirits. On it or near it grows a viburnum-tree, closely associated with the lower sphere, with the dead. Kalina has its roots in that world, and lives in this one with its branches.
Main image
I was immediately captivated by this image. And soon the idea of a work arose, where the main character would not be a person who is not dying or a mourning goddess, but a symbol, i.e. bridge. And I started collecting all the ideas in one heap. Very quickly I understood how I see this bridge and this work. Although I perfectly understood that I was moving away from the canonical image a little. After all, the name “Kalinov Bridge” does not come from the viburnum plant. The names of both are of the same root and come from the ancient word “fire”. It means heating a solid material red-hot and white-hot. And the “Smorodina River” is also called Fiery. Therefore, the bridge across it seemed to be red-hot.
According to my own idea, fog should prevail in the work. The main image is a bridge going nowhere, into the fog, into the void. It was this interpretation that seemed to me the most correct in relation to the transfer of the image of “Death”. I did not begin to convey a terrible picture from the beliefs, where a red-hot bridge is thrown over a smoking river. It’s too pretentious and distracts from the main idea. After all, “Death” is peace, it is a bridge along which a person leaves in dead silence.
Work symbols
Now that the main idea was found, I began to add supporting elements and symbols. One of these was the beautiful image of a raven. The raven on the territory of Belarus was represented as a kind of god with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic features at the same time. This deity had a close relationship with the sacred (original) waters and the world of the dead, and his main function was to monitor the correctness and incorrectness of life, in accordance with which he executed or saved people. He was also considered a conductor of souls.
In addition, I introduced two runes into the work, also from the descriptions of the old Slavs. Their meaning helps to understand the meaning of the bridge itself. Starting from the left:
- “Rock” – the rune of the transcendent unmanifested spirit, which is the beginning and end of everything. This version of the rune is an analogue of Dagaz – the inevitability of the End
- “Need” – The rune of Veles in the form of Viy – the god of Navi, the lower World. This is the rune of fate that cannot be avoided; rune of darkness, death, all-burning underground fire.
The final dimensions were determined as 87×150 cm. Certainly on canvas with oil paints. While working on the painting, I took photographs to better show the process of writing. The video shows how some of the initial ideas and nuances have changed. For example, lighting the bridge from the outside, then from the inside. Crow position. These are nuances, but it is on the nuances that the overall impression of the work is built.
Answer found
The painting was completed in 2014. I have been going to her for over five years. This is a good part of life, a big and significant work in my work. It can be said that it was a landmark, which summed up a peculiar line and determined many directions for the further creative path. Yes, perhaps not everything in it corresponds to the beliefs of the ancient Slavs. But this work very well reflects my view on the theme of “Death”. There is no pathos and window dressing in it, there are no terrible pictures of death. I was able to answer the question “How can you show Death without actually showing Death itself?”.
