Exhibition: Aleksandra Panic's "Wolves, Snakes and Spirits"

Look at the wolves, snakes and spirits frozen in whimsical, fairytale-like spaces.…Their distorted bodies are merging one into another, their multiple limbs are dissolving under the moonlight and the multiple eyes are watching the viewer who interrupted them in the middle of their conversations. These creatures belong to the world of Uncanny, they bring to life scary stories from our childhood, dark fairy tales, the whispers from the past that are echoing in our ears.

In my practice I work with mythology, religion and Uncanny. For this body of work I am focusing on exploration of the wolf as a symbol in mythology. While myths and legends of many civilizations use various animals for allegorical representation of various notions, wolves seem to be one of the most popular and the most controversial creatures. On one hand they were seen as evil predators, but on the other hand they were portrayed as faithful companions that were acting as interconnectors between the world of spirits and the world of living.

Depicting wolves in my work, I am avoiding realistic representation focusing rather on the essence of these majestic creatures and the enigma it contains. Using symbolism and narration to touch on the topics of life, death and divinity. Humanity has been interested in these topics for many centuries, using mythology as instruments to explain the world around us, to connect the material and immaterial, to give body, flesh to something airy. While referring to folklore and ethnography, I give myself the liberty to reinterpret and adapt the symbols and narrations, trying to mix the stories from the distant past with the present reality, creating the Uncanny mix between the child-like rendered imagery and the darker meaning they bear.