Helena von Sadovszky

Though my theme is “Heroes”, the theme I initially chose was Monsters, but that word did not really describe what I wanted to convey through my work, the world does not need any more monsters. The point of art is to tell people something, to make them realize something about themselves. People know their monsters, so I realized that the world does not need monsters, it needs heroes. Yes this theme is cheesy and vague, but it would not be the same any other way. Heroes have always inspired us. Characters like Wonder Woman and Captain America gave people hope for a better world in times of war, while living heroes, such as Barack Obama and Ruth Bader Ginsburg sought to lead them there.

I opted to express these sentiments in the form of brightly colored comic book superheroes. In order to capture both the real heroes as well as the imaginary, some of my pieces (Heroes: Nightingales, Surveyor, Onwards, and Stolen Kisses: A Memoriam to All Families Torn Apart by Hate) all are centered around things that have or are happening. While, other works (Propaganda for Change: “The Heroes of Tomorrow”, Fluorescence v. The Midnite Master, and Duel in the Dark ) explore real themes and concepts through the lense of fantasy, as such themes are not as easily expressed through reality. Propaganda for Change: The Heroes of Tomorrow and Stolen Kisses: A Memoriam to All Families Torn Apart by Hate are inspired by classic works such as Liberty Leading the People and The Stolen Kiss respectively. Surveyor is a piece that depicts Archaeologist Dame Kathleen Kenyon at her excavation of Jericho from 1952 to 1958. Kenyon is one of my personal heroes, she helped pioneer the Wheeler-Kenyon method of excavation and is one of the most important Biblical archaeologists, she also went to great lengths to increase opportunities for women in archeology both academically and in the field. This piece attempts to show not the physical enormity of Jericho but its importance as an archaeological site, in order to achieve this effect I studied various comic book covers in an effort to quickly grab the viewers interest and tell a story. I chose to portray these sentiments in grayscale as like many great women throughout history, Kenyon seldom colors the thoughts of the modern person, and instead her story is found in books, museums, the internet, and the fading memory of her colleagues. While this is indeed more documentation then other women like her, her story is still lost in the vast void of information, and in the minds of the populace if she exists at all she probably exists without color. Therefore in order to highlight this discrepancy, I chose to depict her without color.

The works in my exhibition are placed in chronological order from the time they were created. I found that in this configuration the works reflect the change in my own skill, this is the most interesting method of displaying them as while the majority of the themes of my works center around heroes, they vary on the nuances. The first piece I created was Onwards and the last was Heroes: Nightingales. Hence, organizing them by theme is difficult. The works are not arranged in a linear configuration as the viewer is meant to experience them and the themes they represent as these themes are encountered in life: messily jumbled and interwoven. Nothing exists in isolation so when attempting to analyze issues presently affecting the world, one must analyse the neighboring issues as well. My goal is not only for the viewer to think about the themes of each individual work but to evaluate the themes as they exist together in the real world. My work is about heroes, what they represent and what they face, and my intention is to relay this to the viewer in the hopes that they will be moved to act against the injustices of the world and be a hero themselves. Now, I invite you to open your eyes, don your cape, and step into a world of heroes…