Anabiosis

 

Night portraits on the trees - fragile crooked figures, resembling animals or creatures which used to be alive. 

The bodies are in a state of suspended motion in an attempt to climb the top of the tree, dissolving into synthetic light.

These images remount us to the animalistic samblance or images of Adam and Eve, being in search of the forbidden fruit.

Nudity in European culture is inseparable from the theological symbolism. Before the fall of man, people didn`t know about their nakedness, their bodies were covered with grace. Modern Adam and Eve move through the trees in search of the forbidden fruit, wanting to return to paradise, to find the lost.

Such escapism can easily be compared with the anabiosis of an animal: the slowing down of body life processes under the influence of the manifestation of aggressiveness of the external environment. This explains the similarity of nude figures with animals.

The faces of people are hidden. In modern culture there is an asymmetry between the face and the body: the face is always naked, the body is always hidden.

The face is the most strong means of expression. Nude figures on trees turn the conventional framework upside down.

Despite their nakedness, the figures don`t try to seduce the viewer, they rather express the desire to defend themselves up to the manifestation of aggression, to wait o

These images can be compared with a depressed state, an awareness of their powerlessness - the inability to influence or participate in the ongoing global processes.

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Valentina Vasilyeva

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2017