Dead Bird
Textile, hand embroidery
65 x 70 cm
Eva Alvor
When I first started my career as an artist, I tried to mentally prepare myself to receive rejections. I even came up with the idea of creating a project called “100 Rejections”, where I planned to share details of the negative responses I received to my applications. I thought that this way, it would be easier for me to cope with this negative experience. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. I remember applying for an open call for a small independent gallery in a neighboring town. It was a gallery, that a young curator had opened in his garage on the city’s outskirts. They were organizing the first exhibitions for students and emerging artists. I was full of hope that I would not be rejected. I remember how hard my heart beat when a letter from the gallery arrived in the mail. And how broken I was when I received another rejection! It’s very hard not to take these moments personally. Every time you start thinking, my art is bad, nobody needs my paintings. And only a very great love for what you do gives you the strength to continue. I’ve long exceeded my goal of a hundred rejections. And I stopped counting them after about thirty or thirty-five. Nevertheless, every letter that contains a polite standard negative reply still feels like a painful little prick to my self-esteem. You just live with it and move on with your work.– Eva Alvor
Eva Alvor, an artist hailing from Zaporizhia, Ukraine, presents her textile piece, “Dead Bird,” at the Salon de Refusées. Through meticulous hand embroidery on a canvas, Alvor explores the profound themes of existentialism and the inner psyche of a country at war. Her artwork, devoid of frames, confronts the viewer with a blend of stark graphic elements and emotive colors, weaving a narrative steeped in melancholy and mysticism. Alvor skillfully employs natural motifs and ancient symbols, alongside the raw expressiveness of anatomy, to craft a modern-day tale that provokes introspection and a search for deeper meaning.
Eva Alvor’s “Dead Bird” is a profound tapestry of emotion and symbolism, woven into the very fabric of the textile medium she masters. This piece resonates with the historical weight of textile art, a field often overlooked in the annals of fine art yet rich with storytelling and societal commentary.
Alvor’s choice of hand embroidery, a meticulous and time-honored technique, harkens back to a time when such craft was the only means of illustrating narratives before the advent of the printing press. The textile becomes a document, recording a state of being.
In Eva Alvor’s work, the dead bird — an ancient symbol often associated with lost hope or a departed soul — serves as a stark contrast to the traditionally life-affirming nature of embroidery.
This juxtaposition elevates the piece to a conversation between life and death, peace and war, preservation and decay. Eva Alvor invites viewers into her own tale, a modern narrative that asks them to look beyond the surface and explore the existential threads that bind us all. The artwork becomes a silent oracle, speaking of the fragility of life and the beauty that can be found even in its end.
“Dead Bird” is a testament to the enduring power of textile art and a reminder of the complex tapestry of human experience that artists like Alvor continue to explore and unravel.
SALON DE REFUSÉES
The "Salon de Refusées" is an art initiative inspired by the historic 1863 Paris exhibition. It's a platform celebrating female (read) artists who've faced rejection, turning exclusion into empowerment. Our project is dedicated to showcasing art in its most authentic form, creating a space where diverse voices and stories are seen and revered. Join us in this artistic uprising, where each piece adds to our resilience and the unyielding spirit of creativity.