01 Breathing Through the Eyes
November 2023, Paris
in collaboration with Daria Melnikova
Untitled performative piece of hot chicken soup offering accompanied by the Table on chicken legs in Galerie Atlas in Paris.
Revolving around the feeling of nurture in a ceremonial way, the performance was inspired by birth rituals in 19th century Latvia and Lithuania. After giving birth in a sauna, the grandmother of the family would kneel down and sacrifice a hen with a wooden ladle for the fate goddess Laima. Women then would kneel and eat the chicken. Warming chicken soup encapsulates the nurturing and resourcefulness of this bird: hen as a symbol of rebirth and fertility, a symbol of new life emerging.
The exhibition departs from anthropologist Marija Gimbutas’ ideas on heritage, indigenous identities, and the relationship between humans and nature in the Baltic Sea area. Research on the cross-disciplines of archaeological artefacts, linguistics, ethnography and folklore led Gimbutas to posit the thesis that prehistoric European culture was female-centred and worshipped a Mother Goddess as the giver of all life.
Participating artists, through imaginative and fictitious narratives, share personal stories and beliefs that also reflect the influence of Gimbutas’ theories on ancient symbolism. Their works echo these concepts through a contemporary lens, incorporating elements such as spirals, circles, and motifs such as snakes and birds – symbols rooted in ancient European matriarchal cultures that continue to resonate in Baltic art and culture.