Pumpkin in ink
Are you an autumn person? Pumpkin in ink will allow you to show your love for the autumn aura and all that comes with it.
A pumpkin is a cultivar of winter squash. That is round vegetable with smooth, slightly ribbed skin. Pumpkin is most often deep yellow to orange in coloration. The thick shell contains the edible seeds and pulp.
Pumpkin is a variety of squash that people often think of as a…
View On WordPress
5 notes
·
View notes
Many in my personal life know that I’ve been building my Chernobyl memorial tattoo on my arm for a while now, and Phase 2 of the piece began earlier this week.
Last year, the amazingly kind and astoundingly talented Ely Wick worked with me to design this piece. In October, we began with three of the six flowers: a sunflower for Boris Shcherbina and Ukraine. Poppies in memory of the liquidators, plant workers, and firefighters that died. Chamomile to represent Russia and a tribute to Valery Legasov’s wife.
This time, we added the pine trees, a star, and a stork.
But this is a Chernobyl tattoo… so why a stork?
The entire piece is an homage to the final shot of the HBO series “Chernobyl,” my favorite show and the entity that introduced me to this obsession in the first place. In this shot, Valery Legasov is being driven away from his two closest friends at Chernobyl, never to speak to them again. He leaves Chernobyl for the last time, knowing that Chernobyl will never leave him.
Now, this didn’t really happen in real life- he was allowed to talk to people still, and the KGB itself wasn’t quite as cruel to Legasov as they were in the show (that was the Kurchatov Institute and the Academy of Sciences’ job). His isolation was more unspoken. However, the tragic reality is still very much present in that final frame of the last episode.
I see that final shot as a representation of how his friends and family felt when he died: ripped away from them suddenly, no chance to say goodbye, no chance to tell him, “you did everything you could; we’ll fix this, I promise” one more time. I’ve read many accounts from people who knew him in all walks of life, and this feeling of disbelief and pain when they found out he took his own life is communicated in almost all of them.
I wanted something that represented Valery being in the middle, being driven down that road by himself, surrounded by the cost of the Soviet Union’s lies. But I also didn’t want him to be made small- he made himself feel so small in life, and so did many others throughout his career. And I find this totally unfair for a man who walked so tall and who had such a big heart.
So, again, why a stork? Valery brought two photos back with him from Chernobyl: a photo of the plant itself, and a photo of storks nesting during the liquidation. He hung both of them up in his office to remind him of the balance between nature and technology. Plus, @tryingtobealwaystrying and I think he liked how fluffy they were.
So, that’s why a stork: this stork represents Valery Legasov. He’s strong but vulnerable, brave but measured. The positioning was intentional: behind him is Chernobyl, represented by the star. Both in front of and behind him are the beginnings of the Red Forest. He is protecting the world from Chernobyl, surrounded by those who were closest to him there (represented by the flowers). In life, he was minimized and erased. In death, I want him to be spotlighted and surrounded only with love and the evidence of his bravery.
Finally, I wanted to explain a little more about the star: of all the things that could represent the plant, why a star? Well… by some cosmic “coincidence,” the word “Chernobyl” comes from the Russian/Ukrainian translation of “wormwood.” You’ll either recognize that term from Harry Potter, or from its mention in the Book of Revelations:
“The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.”
I’m sure you can see the parallels. The locals of Chernobyl sure did…
We’ll be adding the next three flowers next month. I anticipate finishing the whole piece sometime this year, and I couldn’t be more excited! Can’t wait, Ely!
6 notes
·
View notes