Photo Series The Way Home
The project is a photographic documentation of a performance series based on the interaction between the author of the project and nature. The main theme of the interactions is an attempt of modern people to return to the bosom of mother nature, to harmonious coexistence with it, akin to our primitive ancestors or even animals.
It is obvious that for a modern human being this reunion is not fully feasible due to our changed biological characteristics, everyday habits, physical and moral inability to survive in completely wild conditions. The incomplete exposure of the performer also reinforces his or her distance from nature.
But the reunion occurs not only through physical contact, but also through a ritual, through an appeal to the sacred meaning of nature, which it was endowed with in ancient religions.
forests, I return to you water, I return to you roots, cover me earth, share your warmth with me trees, share your strength with me rivers, tell me everything you know nature, take me into your home
12 сентября 2019, Лебяжье
I lived through this cycle with nature, watching how it slows down in autumn, freezes in winter, and revives again in spring
I slept in the roots of trees, among the branches of a fallen spruce, under the warm cover of rotten fallen leaves
I talked to the water, and it answered all my questions about this world
I hid among the roots from snowfalls and frosty wind and climbed up the branches of trees to hide from wild animals
Lying on the ground, I felt its warm, wet smell
I shared my sorrow with birch trees, and they helped me with their advice
looking into the water, I felt her touch on my face
hugging a tree, I heard a stream of water flowing inside its trunk to fresh tender leaves
I felt the softness of moss with my feet, the coldness of ice and snow, the swampiness of marshes and the pricks of fallen needles
I heard tree trunks creaking, the wind howling, the river murmuring, the wood crunching under somebody’s steps, birds singing
I saw how flowers and herbs die in autumn, and how they are born again in spring
this story is a fairy tale about the path that you need to follow in order to return to your primeval human home and once again feel an integral part of it
