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Homer's Odyssey
Exhibition 15 February − 15 March 2023
Online Exhibition "The Art of the Poem – Homer’s Odyssey"
The exhibition of the Greek gallery Pocket Stars in cooperation with Culture 365 magazine with support of Praxis educational center presents online artists’ exploration of the adventures of creative heroes of XXI century among modern sirens - in collaboration and inspired by Homer’s Odyssey.
In Homer’s Odyssey, Book XII, the Greek hero Odysseus is advised by the sorceress Circe that sirens were sent to tempt Odysseus and his crew. Odysseus advises the crew to put wax in their ears to be deaf to the singing of the sirens; they tie Odysseus to the mast. The sirens singing were an irresistible force to knock the men off course. Odysseus and his men faced a great fleet with staying on course while being distracted by sirens. The Sirens symbolize risk, temptation, desire, and facing obstacles. Also, the sirens represent the desires one cannot have, along with forbidden knowledge or some taboo object.
I presented my version of 6 sirens of hero journey on this exhibition. Their names are risk, temptation, desire, facing obstacles, forbidden knowledge and taboo. All of them are satellites of innovators, especially in art, because sometimes fame and money for them reach the author only after death, while during the life (s)he listens more to critic and depreciation, while trivial fakes are welcomed by public and even most experts :). Nevertheless following the path of growth an artist can use the meetings with sirens of any kind as spiritual practice for developing courage, awareness and creativity in dealing with internal and external obstacles. Therefore I suggest these 6 images as art results of creative meetings with risk, temptation, desire, obstacles, forbidden knowledge and taboo, which I drew on the eve of the third millennium. Since then I have been using them as navigators in my Odyssey through difficult times, mastering the art of creative care for the life on our Planet. Be with me, my art fellows, because sirens sing of the problems inside all the humankind. So when we will heal ourselves from these pains, they will have no power over us. And their singing will be perceived just like music of the wind over the sea, accompanying our creative path to the heart of the artist's spiritual journey, which is our common home of peace and happiness, called Earth.
I accompanied my sirens with a poem called "Battle", in Russian.
You can translate it with google or feel its energy directly.
Enjoy anyway! :)
Битва
Битва, возможно, затем и нужна,
Чтоб вслед за ней разлилась тишина,
Чтобы сирень распустилась, нежна,
Чтобы вздохнула свободно страна,
Чтобы под солнцем сомлела земля,
Чтобы в ромашках запели поля.
Может быть, с пикою наперевес,
Я пробиваюсь сквозь вражеский лес
Лжи и отравленных острых штыков,
Чтобы король оказался готов
Выйти на битву сквозь страхи и боль,
Чтобы узнать, что он правда - король,
Чтобы запела от силы земля,
Встав за спиной своего короля
И с той поры беспробудная тьма
Нас не сводила в тюрьму - и с ума.
Чтоб я могла, не стыдясь ничего,
Всласть обнимать короля своего.
Наталья Гарбер, 16.06.2021
What obstacles do you face that regard you as pursuing the hero’s journey as an artist? How would you depict it visually to others where the two can relate? What are some things that even distract you as an artist from completing a piece of artwork? Can you create an art piece that visually describes a certain taboo or forbidden knowledge? This exhibit is intended for any artist working in any medium interested in exploring the visual arts through interpreting an actual poem.
Homer’s Odyssey, The Sirens, Book XII
“O friends, oh ever partners of my woes,
Attend while I what Heaven foredooms disclose.
Hear all! Fate hangs o’er all; on you it lies
To live or perish! to be safe, be wise!
“In flowery meads the sportive Sirens play,
Touch the soft lyre, and tine the vocal lay;
Me, me alone, with fetters firmly bound,
The gods allow to hear the dangerous sound.
Hear and obey; if freedom I demand,
Be every fetter strain’d, be added band to band.
“While yet I speak the winged galley flies,
And lo! the Siren shores like mists arise.
Sunk were at once the winds; the air above,
And waves below, at once forgot to move;
Some demon calm’d the air and smooth’d the deep,
Hush’d the loud winds, and charm’d the waves to sleep.
Now every sail we furl, each oar we ply;
Lash’d by the stroke, the frothy waters fly.
The ductile wax with busy hands I mould,
And cleft in fragments, and the fragments roll’d;
The aerial region now grew warm with day,
The wax dissolved beneath the burning ray;
Then every ear I barr’d against the strain,
And from access of frenzy lock’d the brain.
Now round the masts my mates the fetters roll’d,
And bound me limb by limb with fold on fold.
Then bending to the stroke, the active train
Plunge all at once their oars, and cleave the main
“While to the shore the rapid vessel flies,
Our swift approach the Siren choir descries;
Celestial music warbles from their tongue,
And thus the sweet deluders tune the song:
“Oh stay, O pride of Greece! Ulysses, stay!
Oh cease thy course, and listen to our lay!
Blest is the man ordain’d our voice to hear,
The song instructs the soul, and charms the ear.
Approach! thy soul shall into raptures rise!
Approach! and learn new wisdom from the wise!
We know whate’er the kings of mighty name
Achieved at Ilion in the field of fame;
Whate’er beneath the sun’s bright journey lies.
Oh stay, and learn new wisdom from the wise!’
“Thus the sweet charmers warbled o’er the main;
My soul takes wing to meet the heavenly strain;
I give the sign, and struggle to be free;
Swift row my mates, and shoot along the sea;
New chains they add, and rapid urge the way,
Till, dying off, the distant sounds decay;
hen scudding swiftly from the dangerous ground,
The deafen’d ear unlock’d, the chains unbound.
The exhibition of the Greek gallery Pocket Stars in cooperation with Culture 365 magazine with support of Praxis educational center presents online artists’ exploration of the adventures of creative heroes of XXI century among modern sirens - in collaboration and inspired by Homer’s Odyssey.
In Homer’s Odyssey, Book XII, the Greek hero Odysseus is advised by the sorceress Circe that sirens were sent to tempt Odysseus and his crew. Odysseus advises the crew to put wax in their ears to be deaf to the singing of the sirens; they tie Odysseus to the mast. The sirens singing were an irresistible force to knock the men off course. Odysseus and his men faced a great fleet with staying on course while being distracted by sirens. The Sirens symbolize risk, temptation, desire, and facing obstacles. Also, the sirens represent the desires one cannot have, along with forbidden knowledge or some taboo object.
I presented my version of 6 sirens of hero journey on this exhibition. Their names are risk, temptation, desire, facing obstacles, forbidden knowledge and taboo. All of them are satellites of innovators, especially in art, because sometimes fame and money for them reach the author only after death, while during the life (s)he listens more to critic and depreciation, while trivial fakes are welcomed by public and even most experts :). Nevertheless following the path of growth an artist can use the meetings with sirens of any kind as spiritual practice for developing courage, awareness and creativity in dealing with internal and external obstacles. Therefore I suggest these 6 images as art results of creative meetings with risk, temptation, desire, obstacles, forbidden knowledge and taboo, which I drew on the eve of the third millennium. Since then I have been using them as navigators in my Odyssey through difficult times, mastering the art of creative care for the life on our Planet. Be with me, my art fellows, because sirens sing of the problems inside all the humankind. So when we will heal ourselves from these pains, they will have no power over us. And their singing will be perceived just like music of the wind over the sea, accompanying our creative path to the heart of the artist's spiritual journey, which is our common home of peace and happiness, called Earth.
I accompanied my sirens with a poem called "Battle", in Russian.
You can translate it with google or feel its energy directly.
Enjoy anyway! :)
Битва
Битва, возможно, затем и нужна,
Чтоб вслед за ней разлилась тишина,
Чтобы сирень распустилась, нежна,
Чтобы вздохнула свободно страна,
Чтобы под солнцем сомлела земля,
Чтобы в ромашках запели поля.
Может быть, с пикою наперевес,
Я пробиваюсь сквозь вражеский лес
Лжи и отравленных острых штыков,
Чтобы король оказался готов
Выйти на битву сквозь страхи и боль,
Чтобы узнать, что он правда - король,
Чтобы запела от силы земля,
Встав за спиной своего короля
И с той поры беспробудная тьма
Нас не сводила в тюрьму - и с ума.
Чтоб я могла, не стыдясь ничего,
Всласть обнимать короля своего.
Наталья Гарбер, 16.06.2021
What obstacles do you face that regard you as pursuing the hero’s journey as an artist? How would you depict it visually to others where the two can relate? What are some things that even distract you as an artist from completing a piece of artwork? Can you create an art piece that visually describes a certain taboo or forbidden knowledge? This exhibit is intended for any artist working in any medium interested in exploring the visual arts through interpreting an actual poem.
Homer’s Odyssey, The Sirens, Book XII
“O friends, oh ever partners of my woes,
Attend while I what Heaven foredooms disclose.
Hear all! Fate hangs o’er all; on you it lies
To live or perish! to be safe, be wise!
“In flowery meads the sportive Sirens play,
Touch the soft lyre, and tine the vocal lay;
Me, me alone, with fetters firmly bound,
The gods allow to hear the dangerous sound.
Hear and obey; if freedom I demand,
Be every fetter strain’d, be added band to band.
“While yet I speak the winged galley flies,
And lo! the Siren shores like mists arise.
Sunk were at once the winds; the air above,
And waves below, at once forgot to move;
Some demon calm’d the air and smooth’d the deep,
Hush’d the loud winds, and charm’d the waves to sleep.
Now every sail we furl, each oar we ply;
Lash’d by the stroke, the frothy waters fly.
The ductile wax with busy hands I mould,
And cleft in fragments, and the fragments roll’d;
The aerial region now grew warm with day,
The wax dissolved beneath the burning ray;
Then every ear I barr’d against the strain,
And from access of frenzy lock’d the brain.
Now round the masts my mates the fetters roll’d,
And bound me limb by limb with fold on fold.
Then bending to the stroke, the active train
Plunge all at once their oars, and cleave the main
“While to the shore the rapid vessel flies,
Our swift approach the Siren choir descries;
Celestial music warbles from their tongue,
And thus the sweet deluders tune the song:
“Oh stay, O pride of Greece! Ulysses, stay!
Oh cease thy course, and listen to our lay!
Blest is the man ordain’d our voice to hear,
The song instructs the soul, and charms the ear.
Approach! thy soul shall into raptures rise!
Approach! and learn new wisdom from the wise!
We know whate’er the kings of mighty name
Achieved at Ilion in the field of fame;
Whate’er beneath the sun’s bright journey lies.
Oh stay, and learn new wisdom from the wise!’
“Thus the sweet charmers warbled o’er the main;
My soul takes wing to meet the heavenly strain;
I give the sign, and struggle to be free;
Swift row my mates, and shoot along the sea;
New chains they add, and rapid urge the way,
Till, dying off, the distant sounds decay;
hen scudding swiftly from the dangerous ground,
The deafen’d ear unlock’d, the chains unbound.
