“Fear Must Abyss”: A Coronavirus Sculpture Was Burned in Russia

The dark wooden sculpture of coronavirus was burned in Voronezh, Russia. It was made by the famous wood carver Alexander Ivchenko. He decided to cut the figure COVID-19 after his whole family had got over infection.

“One morning I woke up with a thought: what could a coronavirus sawn from a tree look like? I was drawn a kind of trinity. The balloon is our planet. On one half of the continents, the oceans. The second half is the mask of death, which devours the planet. And all together – the virus with its offshoots. It is true that the offshoots are not mace-shaped, but the wrong ones are rhizomes. This is more terrible,” – explains Alexander.

Ivchenko used a birch tree for his work, which was brought to him from Lipetsk region two years ago. It took about two hours to saw the “coronavirus”. Alexander confessed that it was not a pity to burn it at all.

“Those, who were sick, know this feeling of broken glass in the lungs or even hot, undersized bricks. But what is strange… I have been ill before. And I have been sicker – that’s for sure. But it’s been a long time since I was so scared,” the sculptor continues. “Everyone is tired of the unknown, tired of being afraid. The action, at least some of it in itself is a great relief. So, according to the plan, after burning, there should be an abyss of fear. At least – mine. At the most – for those who looked at it.”

“Originally, it was a very individual action for me. That’s why I climbed to hell on the eco-trail. There are no roads even there. When they started calling and asking for permission to shoot, I reasoned as follows: if people need to see what I did, let the universe deal with it.”