A heritage salba that tests your eyesight and calls you to action

At any time, and especially when everything becomes fragile and uncertain, a person needs points of support from which to start their journey. These points, like clues for a climber, can be family traditions, words of a loved one, important ideas or objects that hold the warmth of the heart. 

For me, this ceramic work, "Hereditary Salba", is the embodiment of several images and ideas. A salba is an ancient Ukrainian women's jewellery consisting of coins sewn onto a cloth base. Sometimes the total value of these coins was the most expensive property of the young family to whom the salba was inherited. This is a story that continues.

The common motif of the coin discs is the letter "Sh", which refers to the eyesight test tables, and should be seen by a person with even the slightest percentage of vision. At the same time, this letter has the silhouette of a trident. These are symbols that need to be seen.

 Each "coin" has an additional inscription that forms a word, or rather an adverb, with the "S-trident". An adverb is a sign of action, or a call to the future. This is a message to descendants.

The "coins" are arranged in a composition resembling a bunch of grapes. There are 12+1 of them. So, there is also Christian symbolism here. 

The discs-"coins", 22 cm in diameter, are ceramic, fixed in a common composition on a metal base to be mounted on the wall. The top of the composition is a ribbon of fine metal mesh. 

Overall dimensions: approx. 135 cm high, 115 cm wide