The swan signifies a musician as well as music itself. Because of its colour, it is a sign that secrets will be revealed. If sick men dream of a swan, it indicates recovery. If it sings, however, it means death. For the swan does not utter a sound until the hour of its death.
Artemidorus Daldianus. The Interpretation of Dreams. II, 20
One of the most emotional series of paintings created by Ms. Marina Fedorova bears the title Swan Song, or, My Red Roots.
The series is not so much a reaction to any ongoing events, but rather a product of an intense inner fervour: with her paintings and allegoric imagery Marina conveys her emotions, attitude, and pain.
This red and white series is built around the Artist’s favourite palette with rather sharp contrasts. Its colours, however, are far removed from the bright scarlet of the Parallel series or the distinctive white of the Kresty paintings. These pictures feature a different shade of red verging on burgundy – thick as blood dripping from a vein. White hues grow saturated and border on grey, as if to reflect the denseness of air which is no longer crisp or thin as in the mountains. The snow in Winter Lake symbolises the events of the present day, the media space which has permeated everything and allows no easy escape, causing an acute sense of helplessness and loss of self amid the inhuman ‘scarlet-red’ environment.
The Birch Tree Alley watercolour whose protagonist is attempting to shake off her heavy coat like a bondage that prevents her from escaping the chilling snow domain is in fact a study for a nascent series of paintings conceived as a response to the grim reality. The girl wants to shake off the garment that kept her warm in the winter cold, ready to discard the cosiness of fir that proves to be useless when it comes to survival.
Later on, Marina would paint a series of large-scale canvases whose recurring character is a dark-haired girl with clearly Slavic features. We see her in one picture after another, as if her creator were telling the story of one and the same person.
Black Water, By the Lake, Winter Lake, and Swan Song all seem to comprise the Artist’s allegoric statement. Over the time span captured by these four paintings, the girl fails to escape her snowbound surroundings. Obstacles keep appearing along her way, be it the deep snow that sucks her in or the dark waters that block her progress. The black and uninviting river, gloomy and dangerous, is associated with the otherworld, a passage into another reality, a harbinger of misfortunes, cruel reality and death that the main character is facing. In this sense, the Swan Song painting is central to the series. Here, the Artist predicts the fate of her protagonist who eventually transforms into a beautiful swan. This artwork allows a glimpse into the hidden truth and the inner world of the female character who is given huge white blood-spattered swan wings that symbolise life, rebirth, purity, and chastity, all united in one final song before the tragic end.
One of the most upsetting pictures, Red Field, shows a ploughed field overflowing with blood, as if it were the setting for some pagan ritual involving human sacrifices. A soil fertilised with human blood is the price of the future harvest.
Aleksandra Danilovskikh
Art Historian, Art Expert
