Protective Veil
Ink on textile, installation, 2023
«…A Veil. A magic wall that you put up to defend everything dear to your heart against the evil. The artwork that took me long hours of drawing and huge amount of physical and mental effort. The text of my very own protective prayer / curse / spell I based on two sources. The first was the famous Ukrainian prayer “Seven crosses”. The second was the prayer that I found hand-written on a tiny piece of paper among my grand grandfather’s documents. It was written by my grand grandma to protect him and their house, it combined both Orthodox Christian and ancient pagan motives. When I found it I was really amazed that despite the USSR’s declared total atheism my grand grandparents who lived in the village not far from Kharkiv and were just ordinary agricultural sector workers could keep those traditions of household magic alive. I re-thought and re-written the texts of these two prayers and combined my personal one. In it I tried to put all the power of my love and rage. The prayer was hand-drawn on the real window curtains which are now protecting my home in Graz…»
I come to you, Lord,
Not as a servant, but as a free human being
Who will kneel down before noone.
In your name and with your word,
But with my own hand and with my own voice,
I put seven crosses of protection on myself, my loved ones
And everyone dear to my heart.
With seven strong locks,
I lock my house, my garden and my field.
I erect a protective veil above my land, above the streets of my city,
Above the mountains and rivers, above everything that belongs to me
And what I myself belong to.
The crosses have sealed my heart and mind
From sharp guilt, from feeble doubts,
From dark anger, from destructive pain.
The locks secured all the entrances against the evil,
Closed them off from the devil,
From a crafty foe, from all malice.
The first lock guards against cynical betrayal.
The second, against arrogance and hypocrisy.
The third, against a silenced voice, averted gazes, a held-back tongue.
The fourth, against enemies, those who shamelessly invade from outside
And those who deviously destroy the walls from within.
The fifth, against phantoms that lead astray
As well as blinders that prevent one from seeing all around.
The sixth, against memory loss.
As for the seventh lock, it shields against shame and dishonor.
The one and only key to all of them, I entrust the Lord to have it.
And whoever dares to step uninvited onto my land,
Whoever covets my mountains and rivers and the streets of my city —
May they be shattered by this protective veil.
Sunbeams will pass, life-giving rains will pass, warm and cold winds will pass —
But the enemies who cross this border will not pass.
Their legs will turn to wood, their hands will go numb, their eyes will darken.
Their planes will burn in flames, their drones will fall down,
Their missiles will turn around and fly back.
Their mines will be swallowed by the fields, their ships will sink in the waters,
Their tanks will be consumed by rust.
So shall the fertile land, the swift river, the steep mountain, the dark forest
Stand forever under the clear sky.
From north to south, from west to east, from dusk till dawn,
From the first cry to the last breath.
So let it be. Amen.
