This work (2021-2022) deals with perennial issues such as the passage of time, the disintegration of the material (and the spiritual?), the interaction between man and his environment, as well as the contrast between abandoned traditions and new ways of human existence.
It consists of two parts: the photographs (completed) and a video installation (still in the making).
The photographs of abandoned and dilapidated houses were taken in several villages around Niš and the nearby Old Mountain in Serbia, and show the consequence of the increasingly frequent migrations of people from villages to cities. They stand in a mute conversation and visual symbiosis with the photographs of grotesque and distressing facial expressions on the wounded skulls of their probable ancestors – the fallen Serbian soldiers whose skulls were built into The Skull Tower in Niš, after the defeat of the First Serbian Uprising by the Turks (1809). It was a warning to man to ’accept’ his place in the world, but also a probably unconscious testimony to his attempt to step out of the shackles of a civilisation imbued with the feeling of ’imprisoned freedom’.
Looking at all these photographs – portraits of life’s disappearance, we cannot help but wonder about what it was they were 'voided' of, i.e., what preceded and what followed this state. About what is actually perishable and what is permanent. And what are we rushing towards, where are we actually heading for?
The primary human community, since ancient times, is still the oikia – the home, the dwelling, whose main goals are the biological preservation of the species and the maintenance of communal life. After that, more complex communities followed, in which, for thousands of years, according to Aristotle, man has proved himself to be an animal capable of political existence. Modern man, however, is slowly but surely becoming a victim of his own way of life, and is turning into a greedy beast whose politics are progressively challenging his biological existence. We may ask ourselves: Is man, in his race for the material, and his inclination towards the artificial and simulated, slowly losing his face and his home – his primary identity?
The challenges of today’s post-pandemic ecological and economic crisis at the global level are increasingly inspiring the propagation of a return to basic values and our own transformation. But is there still a possible scenario for maintaining long-term prosperity in the world as it is today?
The natural symbolism of the cocoon and the butterfly contains, at its core, the story of death and rebirth. If, in the development of a butterfly, we metaphorically associate its caterpillar stage with materialism and our desire to be socially accepted, and its chrysalis stage with major internal change and our seeking a deeper connection with ourselves, then the final adult stage can represent the outer expression of that change and the symbol of freedom, fulfilment and joy. Interestingly, according to some research, butterflies can ‘remember’ their caterpillar days.
The work Dormant Butterfly, among other things, raises some questions as to whether all these abandoned ‘cocoons’, apart from their historical messages, may also reflect modern man’s dissatisfaction about the state he lives in. Could they hint at a possible rebellion against the system which, in the name of progress, turns man into an obedient automaton, and wake him from his spiritual dormancy? In short, do they contain some hope for change in the future? Or, are they just a reminder of a futile ‘prisoner’s cry’?
Is some kind of metamorphosis about to occur?
