Anna Bak's latest work "Fatal Waves" at Kunsthal Thy in Hurup, Denmark plunges into the historical and cultural relationships that bind humanity to the natural world, a theme richly explored through the mythology of the sea.
Fatal Waves is a visceral exploration of the stories and symbols that have historically allowed humans to negotiate their precarious position within the vastness of nature. By focusing on the narratives surrounding sailors and their belief in symbolic creatures like swallows and mermaids, Bak illustrates how humans have long sought comfort in the face of nature's overwhelming power.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is a poignant sculpture of two swallows hanging from the gallery's beams, an emblem of the sailor's journey: transient, yet always returning home. The swallows evoke the duality of the sea itself—serene and yet perilous. This dual nature is echoed in the calm, dark waters that occupy the gallery space, where light filtering through the roof's many perforations transforms into a constellation of stars. The reflection suggests an oceanic night sky, merging the maritime and the cosmic, underscoring the idea that both the sea and the heavens remain beyond the control of human hands.
Bak’s installation includes a mermaid figure that lies at the water's edge, her form mutated with the arm of a crab and a starfish over her head. This grotesque synthesis of human and marine life underscores the tension between mankind’s desire to connect with nature and its inevitable otherness. The sculpture of a hybrid creature—half-octopus, half-lighthouse—embodies the clash between the natural world and human technological attempts to dominate and navigate it. These hybrids serve as potent metaphors for the coexistence of humanity's rational ambitions and its imaginative fears.
In "Fatal Waves," the act of listening to the sea within a shell—represented by Jullie Hjetland's vocal performance using Bak’s shell sculpture—becomes a metaphor for our longing to commune with the untamable. Bak's work reflects the ancient practice of storytelling as a means to bridge the gap between the human and the natural. By invoking these mythical and symbolic connections, she prompts viewers to reflect on contemporary attitudes towards nature, technology, and the stories we create to feel safe in a world that is inherently unpredictable and indifferent.
