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To be in love is not the same as loving. You can be in love with a woman and still hate her.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov, 1879–1880
Artist Statement
The artwork has different levels of decoration, with mixed media and techniques that represent the complex plot of the book.
We decided to focus on two specific words of the sentence: Love and Hate, the two faces of humankind, described in the sentence as related, yet opposite.
The eternal conflict between these two feelings is visually represented by a weave of roses. Common in Russian folk art, these flowers are often associated with love but they hide cruelty: their stems have thorns that can easily hurt delicate hands. The motif of roses lays on a black background, decorated with a subtle pattern of full-blown flowers and leaves, also inspired by Russian folk patterns. Symbolic and highly stylised, the motif is still naturalistic.
As is the Dostoevsky masterpiece, this print is posing questions about the ultimate goals of human existence and the struggle to develop in ourselves the absolute love it takes to achieve them.
Great Ideas at ChiDM, 2018. Photo: The Office of Experience.
