Ghosts Don't Cross Borders (Trapped in Heaven's Gate)

Accès

À propos

This work is part of a collection titled, Ghosts Don’t Cross Borders. Other works in this collection include “Ukrainian Artists United,” and the Canadian debut of “All the Love We Cannot Bear, Articulated.” Together, these works speak to the human cost of the war in Ukraine—through the lens of memory, loss and justice.

Ghosts Don’t Cross Borders is a refusal to forget what the war in Ukraine leaves behind — and what the world leaves behind when it moves on.

“Trapped in Heaven’s Gate” interweaves repurposed metal, wood, and cloth from Ukrainian battlefields.

Evoking the horror and complexity of war, Trapped in Heaven's Gate is also an expression of hope and defiance. Reflecting the "readymade" artistic tradition, it is constructed of materials sourced on the front lines in Ukraine, primarily from the Kherson region.

The central figure is a stork in mid-flight, cast from Russian shrapnel, mortar rounds and tank parts. In Ukrainian culture, storks carry fallen warriors to heaven. The return of storks each spring also signifies the renewal of life, and symbolizes love, family, peace, and prosperity.

The gilded metal and glass vitrine confines the stork, which is weighed down by the detritus of war. The tragedy of the stork's condition is contrasted against the guelder rose, an emblem of love in Ukraine. Symbolizing the hope contained in resistance, the rose is embedded near a Russian Orthodox cross, made of wood also sourced from the front lines.

Around the base of the work, tragedy and hope are paired again in words stitched in traditional Ukrainian embroidery on a strip of Russian military uniform. The line comes from the poet Taras Shevchenko, known as the father of Ukrainian literature, and reads, "O bury me, then rise ye up."

Organisateur

Independent Artist Darcy Ataman

Independent Artist Darcy Ataman