Greatness Gone. Rings Diptych, 2023

"Greatness Gone" is a series of artworks reflecting on imperialism and longing for what is perceived as "The Great Times", when a country or a civilization was in its zenith. Even though the age of empires is gone, the debate has only just begun, weighting human lives and souls against the pride of belonging to a great thing at seemingly no cost.

Rusty scraps of empires — fortresses, buildings and obelisks stare at us, voiceless witnesses of yet another arrogant, grotesque and futile claim for eternity. People would throw themselves and even more eagerly — others into its Great Furnace to build an abundant future for their children and thousands of generations to come. Nature, chaos and entropy now wipe out the promise carved into stone: Empire was, Empire is, Empire will be.

The Art Deco motifs, a style that glorified more than one empire, get torn by roots, gemstones crushed, décor falls apart. The illusion dispersed and the healing began, mistakes of the past being reflected on, redeemed and incorporated into the humanity’s collective body.

This piece is handcrafted and exists in a single copy.