Yulia Pinkusevich, Breath of Life (Air), 2023

2023

Medium

Acrylic, Ink, Ash, Charcoal, Glitter, Dry Pigment on Canvas

Dimensions

208.3 × 165.1 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-986689

'This piece began as a work about breath and ended as a work about the life/death cycle of souls swirling through life, then passing through the Bardo and reborn as white light.' I once witnessed a strange surreal scene of hundreds of dead Starlings frozen mid-flight scattered throughout the snowy bamboo gardens which I frequented as an undergrad student at Rutgers. After a particularly cold night a friend and I decided to take a morning walk along the bamboo trail. As we stepped into the bamboo forest, we saw white snow covered in black triangle-like shapes, upon closer inspection we realized they were hundreds of small black birds, European starlings I think, their wings spread out like mid flight, partially buried in the snow. The ground was littered with death- stopped abruptly mid life. One of the most strange and vivid things I’ve ever witnessed. No one can explain what caused the mass die off till this day. Though similar phenomenons have been reported.