The Great Black project story unfolds before the viewer the phenomena of Absolute Darkness appearing in this world - personalized, but anonymous. Black character, body and ethereal at the same time, appears in the unexpected landscapes and interiors. It materializes not only in the traditional points of occurrence of supernatural forces (forests, fields, sacred places), but also in avant-garde museum, in a parking lot on the Thai resort, in old European city, on the road to Ararat … Supernatural otherworldly force invades our daily reality.

"My black man" for the heroes of Pushkin's, Mozart, Esenin and Vysotsky was familiar unkind. But this “Black” as the author calls it - is not a bad omen, not a harmful ghost and not an absolute evil, much less the serpent-tempter, comforter of sorrows and horseman of the Apocalypse. It's just a piece of the dark, taking the form of a human figure. Black man, or rather "non-human" of Daria Shkeleva - is not any particular allegory, and more a symbol - a multi-valued and comprehensive, combining all interpretations: mystical (Ghost, Death, Time ...) mythological (Lucifer, the Guardian Angel ...), cultural (Black Knight, The Black Monk ...) carnival masquerade (guest from Venice or Brazil ...) and cinematically-fi (and what is not "black cape, flying on the wings of the night," or another relative of Darth Vader).

Black figure – is just a break in the fabric of the universe, just tear through which shines through the Space night, which is filled all long before the creation of the world and the emergence of the World. Just a glitch in the matrix, which reveals the illusory nature of the universe, and removes the veil of Maya and shows everything in the present form. With his appearance the world looks different, pop other details are emphasized and new perspectives appear, changing the perception of the characters of the play, It is changing the very quality of the look of the beholder. This is a black spot in the eye of the viewer, as the fragment of a mirror of the Snow Queen, but not freezing, and replacing the blind spot in the eye that changes the angle of refraction and perception. The Great Black is watching this world with interest , he is kindly, and even graciously posing to passers-by, is involved in the selfie. Like the representative of one of the four night watches released to spend leisure time in his free of the duty time. For him, this world probably looks strange. Embark on his point of view would be instructive. You can conduct an experiment - in wrap black cloak and take to the streets of the city - and everything will be different, friends will not know you, world around will envelop with mystery, and you yourself will feel mysterious superhuman strength, double of yourself or the Black man. Any person is a universe, a microcosm. Most of the universe can be included (dwell) in Minor in person. Maybe that way the universe wants to look at itself from within and pinned over what she saw. The Great Black – is a black magic mirror in which man and the universe could see his Alter Ego.

Artem Magalashvili

Art critic, curator